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UID:0cf4655c-f97b-4549-a3bb-c8e7075a5a59@360exp.net
SEQUENCE:29844578
DTSTAMP:20260929T125558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260929T093805Z
DTSTART:20261008T193000Z
SUMMARY:Dar Williams - up close and intimate
LOCATION:London Green Note
DESCRIPTION:With support from Heather Maloney - “It’s a highway\, fille
 d with deep\, exotic colors and beautiful delicate things as well as the p
 erils that come from moving so fast\,” says Dar Williams\, describing mo
 dern life. On her 13th album\, Hummingbird Highway\, out September 12 on R
 ighteous Babe Records\, Williams celebrates the colors she glimpses from h
 er vantage as a touring musician. “I was a kid from the suburbs who list
 ened when her hippie teachers said to get out in the world\,” Williams m
 uses. Hummingbird Highway is the latest chapter in a richly unfolding stor
 y. Drawing on her experience as a playwright\, Williams populates her late
 st album with nuanced characters that come alive in the space of a few min
 utes.On the title track\, Williams sings from the perspective of a child s
 peaking to her peripatetic and sometimes struggling parent. Blooming colum
 bines\, china blue teapots\, and cinnamon bark number among the “treasur
 es” in her life\, despite the “pirates” that she imagines populating
  her worldly parent’s life. “The pirates can be all sorts of things li
 ving inside and outside your head. The child\, for better or worse\, knows
  that there is joy\, unpredictability\, and instability on the home front.
  She’s rooting for the joy.”Since 2013\, Williams has been leading son
 gwriting workshops where she teaches students to let songs find their own 
 trajectories. While writing the breezy bossa nova “Tu Sais Le Printemps
 \,” (single release 7/29/25) Williams questioned why she was writing a l
 ight\, flirty song amidst many gloomy news stories. “I was having coffee
  with some of my fellow retreat leaders and Beth Nielsen Chapman\, telling
  them about my ‘frilly’ song\, and Beth said\, ‘That's just what I w
 ant to hear right now!’ It was a nice moment to follow my own advice and
  let the song find its way.”With help from Williams’ collaborators\, t
 he other songs found their paths as well. Mainly produced by Ken Rich at B
 rooklyn’s Grand Street recording (with two tracks produced by Dave Chalf
 ant in Western Massachusetts)\, the Hummingbird Highway sessions were a mi
 crocosm of the interdependence that provided inspiration from inception to
  full production. These songs are ecosystems that thrive on co-creation. D
 aisy Mayhem brings roots-rock energy to the bluegrassy “Put the Coins on
  His Eyes\,” while long time touring-mate and collaborator Bryn Roberts 
 creates both the hooks and immersive sonic landscapes of every musical gen
 re. Simpatico “studio magic” can be heard in the happy rowdiness of th
 e Richard Thompson cover\, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight\,”
  as well as in the contemplative “Sacred Mountain” where Williams wrap
 s a halting melody around the narrator\, a Buddhist who struggles to recon
 cile inward contemplation and political action. Through gray skies\, snow 
 pigeons\, and petitions to stem industrial pollution\, the character moves
  through shifting mindsets to work towards “what we see\; what we breath
 e in time.”Williams sees and breathes the way people connect with one an
 other\, as chronicled in what she calls her “take on urban planning\,”
  What I Found in a Thousand Towns (Basic Books\, 2017). “I traveled and 
 watched how other people created these cool things like town-wide science 
 fairs and hilarious celebrations of potatoes and chili\, often going hand-
 in-hand with providing serious resources like food banks and free clinics
 \,” she recalls. Along the way\, she’s seen the devotion of strong uni
 ons (as in “Put the Coins On His Eyes”) and congressional reps alike. 
 “Maryland\, Maryland” was inspired by conversations with her friend\, 
 Rep. Jamie Raskin\, about what a new state song would include. “In the e
 nd\, my definition of a Maryland song was song about Jamie\, who is a prou
 d\, patriotic son of the state.” As Williams continuously takes in the s
 ocial landscapes of towns and cities\, she has also taken them home\, help
 ing to start a thrift sale\, chairing a community board\, and helping to o
 rganize group sings in her New York hometown. “For someone who’s seen 
 a lot of pavement and airports along with all the great places where I’v
 e played\, it’s especially nice to come home\,” she says.As hummingbir
 ds and folk singers fly\, they gain perspective and not just distance. She
  finds that wise perch on “Olive Tree\,” a single out on August 26. Wi
 th production of stirring percussion and twinkling keys\, she considers ev
 erything that’s led up to our current moment. Williams observes “all o
 f these strangers and friends” talking about world events at parties and
  dinner gatherings and thinks back to all the iterations of those conversa
 tions from Aristotle on. In a moving verse\, she conjures a time in 1913 w
 hen California Berkeley scientists planted an olive grove in the United St
 ates and imagined the generations who would meet in the olive trees’ sha
 de for “over one thousand years.” When Williams promises “I’ll mee
 t you here under an olive tree\,” we all know that both she and we will
 \, wherever and whenever we continue to foster olive trees and a human-sca
 le\, deeply-rooted democratic society.Longtime listeners know that William
 s and her music are always up for those kinds of conversations that glimps
 e the brightest colors\, woven into the larger context of time. “As I've
  gotten older\, I feel more comfortable holding a lot of different threads
  in my hand to create more complicated patterns. Time has given me a bette
 r ability to hold a bunch of colors and temperaments and see what happens
 \, where they become interesting new stories and also where I need to stop
  and untangle the themes and characters. It's daunting\, and I've learned 
 that\, you know\, daunting is fine\, just keep going.”\n\nBoletos: https
 ://wegottickets.com/event/719558
URL;VALUE=URI:https://360exp.net/events/0cf4655c-f97b-4549-a3bb-c8e7075a5a5
 9
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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