Dar WIlliams
Credit: Beowulf Sheehan
Background information
Birth name	Dorothy Snowden Williams
Born	1967
Origin	Mount Kisco, New York, US
Genre(s)	Folk, Folk-pop, Alternative Country Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar
Years active	1990 - present
Label(s)	Burning Field Music Waterbug Records Razor & Tie
Associated acts	Cry Cry Cry
Website	darwilliams.com

Dar Williams (full name Dorothy Snowden Williams, born 1967) is an American singer-songwriter specializing in what can be described as "folk-pop". Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Mount Kisco is both a village and a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the common people. ... Matt Hillyer of Texas-based Eleven Hundred Springs Alternative country is a term applied to various subgenres of country music. ... The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who both write and sing their own material. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Parts of the guitar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Waterbug Records is a small independent record label specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. ... Tagged articles will be automatically categorised into Category:Possible copyright violations except this template. ... Cry Cry Cry was a folk supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Dar Williams, and Lucy Kaplansky. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the common people. ...

She frequents folk festivals across the nation, such as the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, New York. She has also toured with the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, The Nields, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Joan Baez, and Catie Curtis. Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Main Stage 2004 The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival is a yearly summer music and dance festival formerly held at the Long Farm in Hillsdale, New York, USA. Beginning in 2006 it will be held at Dodds Farm . ... Hillsdale is a town located in Columbia County, New York. ... Mary Chapin Carpenter (born February 21, 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey) is a five-time Grammy Award-winning country/folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, with a diverse musical style that is sometimes said to be unclassifiable. ... Patty Griffin. ... Ani DiFranco (IPA: ) (born Angela Marie Difranco on September 23, 1970) is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. ... The Nields were a folk-rock band who performed from 1991 to 2001. ... Shawn Colvin. ... The cover of Girlymans second album, Little Star. ... Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. ... Catie Curtis (born 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. ...

Biography

Williams was born in Mount Kisco, New York, and grew up in Chappaqua with two older sisters, Meredith and Julie. In interviews, she has described her parents as "liberal and loving" people who early on encouraged a career in songwriting. Williams began playing the guitar at age nine and wrote her first song two years later. However, she was far more interested in drama at the time, and majored in theater and religion at Wesleyan University. Mount Kisco is both a village and a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. ... Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in northern Westchester County, New York. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... A songwriter is someone who writes either the lyrics or the music for songs. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle &#8212... Wesleyan University, founded in 1831, is a private, elite[1] liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. ...

Williams moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1990 to further explore a career in theater. She worked for a year as stage manager of the Opera Company of Boston,[1] but on the side began to write songs, record demo tapes, and take voice lessons. Her voice teacher pushed her to try her hand at performing at coffeehouses, but due to the intimidating nature of the Boston folk music scene, as well as her own battles with stage fright, things got off to a rocky start. In 1993 Williams moved to Northampton, Massachusetts. Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, Athens of America, The Hub (of the Universe)1 Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County  - Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) Area    - City  89. ... The Opera Company of Boston was founded by the American conductor Sarah Caldwell in Boston, Massachusetts in 1958. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... el 18 de mayo nacio claudia // 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Nickname: Noho, Hamp Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: Country United States State Massachusetts County Hampshire County Settled 1654 Incorporated 1656 Government  - Type Mayor-council city  - Mayor Mary Clare Higgins Area  - City  35. ...

Early in Williams's music career, she opened for Joan Baez, who would make her relatively well known by recording some of her songs. Her growing popularity has since relied heavily on community coffeehouses, public radio, and an extensive fan base on the Internet. In recent years, she has performed on nationwide television shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ... Late Night with Conan OBrien is an American late night talk show on NBC, that is also syndicated world-wide. ...

Williams recorded her first full album, The Honesty Room under her own label, Burning Field Music. Guest artists included Nerissa and Katryna Nields and Gideon Freudmann. The album was soon picked up by Waterbug Records. In 1995, she moved to Razor & Tie, and her first album for that label, 1996's Mortal City received substantial notice, given that its release coincided with her tour with Baez. The album again featured guest appearances by the Nields sisters and Freudmann, as well as noted folk artists John Prine, Cliff Eberhardt and Lucy Kaplansky. With that success, Razor & Tie re-released The Honesty Room. By the time of her third release, End of the Summer (1997), Williams' career had gathered substantial momentum, and the album did remarkably well, given its genre and independent label status. The Honesty Room is an album by Dar Williams. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Nields were a folk-rock band who performed from 1991 to 2001. ... Gideon Freudmann Gideon Freudmann, described as a cross-genre cellist, coined the term cellobop to describe his music. ... Waterbug Records is a small independent record label specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tagged articles will be automatically categorised into Category:Possible copyright violations except this template. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Mortal City is Dar Williamss 2nd album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie. ... Prine performing at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, CA, October 3, 2004. ... Cliff Eberhardt is an American folk singer/songwriter who currently lives in the Pioneer Valley, in Massachusetts. ... Lucy Kaplansky (born February 2, 1960) is a New York City-based folk musician. ...

In 1998, Williams, Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky formed the group Cry Cry Cry as a way to pay homage to some of their favorite folk artists. The band released an eponymous album of covers and toured from 1998 to 2000. Richard Shindell is an American folk singer currently living in Argentina. ... Lucy Kaplansky (born February 2, 1960) is a New York City-based folk musician. ... Cry Cry Cry was a folk supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Dar Williams, and Lucy Kaplansky. ...

She has since released three more studio albums on the Razor & Tie label (The Green World (2000), The Beauty of the Rain (2003), and My Better Self (2005)), as well as a live album (Out There Live (2001)). My Better Self is a Dar Williams album which was released on September 13, 2005 by Razor & Tie. ...

Williams has lent her talents to support various causes, founding the Snowden Environmental Trust and taking part in many benefit concerts. For example, she performed in a show at Alcatraz with Baez and the Indigo Girls, to benefit the prisoner-rights group Bread and Roses. Alcatraz Island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. ... The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. ... The slogan Bread and Roses originated in the strike of women textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. ...

On May 4, 2002, she married Michael Robinson, an old friend from her college. Their son Stephen Gray Robinson was born on April 24, 2004. She currently resides in Rhinebeck, New York. May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rhinebeck is a town located in Dutchess County, New York. ...

Dar on Songwriting

Williams has long maintained in interviews that she wants her music to be an "efficient career," and something she can do her entire life. She strives to accomplish this by "continuously court[ing] your muse; to keep writing stuff that feels risky about things you believe in, that you're really feeling." In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek , Mousai: from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- think, from which mind and mental are also derived[1]) are nine goddesses or spiritual guides who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing...

Williams says that she can't stand songwriting clichés and instead "digs deeper" into the meanings of things to find their inner beauty. She detests "journal entry songs" and prefers to write for and about others.[2] The specificity of her lyrics (e.g., in presenting narratives or describing characters or incidents), however, has led many listeners to presume that her songs are strongly autobiographical. For years, fans argued over Williams's sexual orientation; songs such as "Iowa" and "As Cool As I Am" were assumed by many to describe lesbian relationships. After a magazine described her as bisexual, Williams publicly clarified that she was heterosexual, though she would have preferred to have "stayed ambiguous ... for the sake of solidarity" and artistic communion.[3] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the journal as a written medium. ... Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ...

Songs

A 2001 article in The Advocate discussed Williams' popularity among LGBT people, writing that among LGBT-supportive straight songwriters, "few manage in their lyrics to dig as deeply or as authentically as... Williams does". 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Advocate (ISSN 0001-8996) is a US-based LGBT-related biweekly news magazine. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Recurrent themes in Williams's songs include religion, adolescence, gender issues, anti-commercialism, misunderstood relationships, loss, humor, and geography. American high school students Adolescence (Latin adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up) is the period of psychological, social, and physical transition between childhood and adulthood (gender-specific, manhood or womanhood). ... Gender often refers to the distinctions between males and females in common usage. ... Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. ... Loss has several meanings including: Loss in electronics is the ratio of the system output to system input In electronics, loss is the ratio of system output to system input. ... Look up Humour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Williams' early work spoke clearly of her upbringing in 1970s and 80s suburbia -- of alienation, and the hypocrisy evident in the post-WWII middle class. On the track "Anthem" of off her early tape All My Heroes are Dead, she sang, "I know there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand." Template:A year The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Suburb. ... In sociology and critical social theory, alienation refers to the individuals estrangement from traditional community and others in general. ... Hypocrisy is the act of condemning another person, where the stated basis for the criticism is the breach of a rule which also applies to the critic and of which the critic is in breach to a similar or greater extent. ... As is often the case with a large war, after the end of World War II many countries around the globe, notably those of Europe, Asia, North America, and Australasia experienced a baby boom. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ...

Nor was Williams ever afraid to address gender typing, roles, and inequities. "You're Aging Well" off The Honesty Room discusses adolescent body image, ageism and self-loathing in excruciating detail. The song ended with the singer finding an unnamed female mentor who pointed her toward a more enlightened and mature point of view. Joan Baez covered the song in concert and later duetted with Williams on tours. [4] Gender often refers to the distinctions between males and females in common usage. ... A bagpiper in military uniform. ... The Honesty Room is an album by Dar Williams. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling Hate speech · Hate crime Lynching · Gay bashing Genocide · Holocaust Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing Pogrom · Race war Religious persecution Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism White/Black supremacy Hate groups · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism Womens/Universal suffrage Civil rights · Gay rights Childrens rights · Youth rights Policies Discriminatory... Self-loathing in general refers to an extreme dislike of oneself or of oneselfs characteristics, often a symptom of Depression; in this sense, it is more or less synonymous with self-hatred, although neither are clinical terms. ... Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. ...

"When I Was a Boy", also off of The Honesty Room, uses Williams' own childhood experiences as a tomboy to muse on gender roles and how they limit boys and girls, who then become limited men and women. [5] A tomboy is a girl who behaves according to the gender role of a boy. ...

"The Christians and Pagans" off Mortal City simultaneously tackles both religion and sexual orientation through a tale of a lesbian/pagan couple that chooses to spend solstice with the devout Christian uncle of one of the women, thus creating a situation where people who would oppose each other on almost every political and cultural front try to get by on pure politeness. Throughout the song, the family members begin to discover their differences need not estrange them from one another. Mortal City is Dar Williamss 2nd album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie. ... Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ... Pagan may refer to: A believer in Paganism or Neopaganism Bagan, a city in Myanmar also known as Pagan Pagan (album), the 6th album by Celtic metal band Cruachan Pagan Island, of the Northern Mariana Islands Pagan Lorn, a metal band from Luxembourg, Europe (1994-1998) Pagans Mind, is... Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of the northern hemisphere winter solstice Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of the southern hemisphere winter solstice In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is... Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ...

Williams' relationship with her family is hinted at through several songs, perhaps most notably in "After All" off The Green World. The song appears to deal mainly with her depression at the age of twenty-one, [6] referring to it as a "winter machine that you go through" repeatedly while "everyone else is spring-bound." It also hints at a history of physical abuse suffered by her parents, which ironically helps to give some closure and perspective to Williams' own personal struggles. Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ... Irony, from the Greek εἴρων (iron), is a literary or rhetorical device made of iron, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ...

Later Work

Williams' latest two albums, The Beauty of the Rain and My Better Self, are characterized by more lush arrangements, guest artists, movement away from the tropes and techniques of folk song-writing, and the wry sensibility of a mature woman looking at her life, rather than a young woman trying to handle her upbringing. The Beauty of the Rain features some of her most accomplished songwriting to date. The title track is almost a haiku, discussing how an unnamed person operates from fear in a relationship, and thus loses his or her partner, and how this person fails to understand that the process of relating is what love is: My Better Self is a Dar Williams album which was released on September 13, 2005 by Razor & Tie. ... Another meaning of Trope is Jewish cantillation. ... A sample Haiku that follows the syllable pattern of 5, 7, 5. ... Fear is a powerful, unpleasant feeling of risk or danger, either real or imagined. ...

You don't know the next thing you will say
This is your favorite kind of day
It has no walls
The beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls

Williams addresses the subject of motherhood in "The One Who Knows". (A little math reveals she was about two years away from being a mother when she wrote the track.) In it, she writes about the role of a parent: Look up mother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

All the things you treasure most
will be the hardest won.
I will watch you struggle long
before the answers come.
But I won't make it harder,
I'll be there to cheer you on.

And the chorus:

You'll fly away, but take my hand until that day.
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job's done you'll be the one who knows.

In "The Mercy of the Fallen", she makes the assertion that those who have erred and been damaged, who have been humbled, bring a worthy lack of judgment to relationships:

There's the wind and the rain
And the mercy of the fallen
Who say they have no claim to know what's right
There's the weak and the strong
And the beds that have no answer
And that's where I may rest my head tonight

Her most recent CD, My Better Self, features two covers: Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere", and Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb". Williams believes that it is all too easy for people to get lulled by the comfort of their routines, and so chose to record the latter song as a "reminder to wakeup" and take responsibility for the problems in our world.^[1] Neil Percival Young[1] OM (born November 12, 1945, Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film director. ... Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969) is Neil Youngs second solo album and his first with backing band Crazy Horse. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... Music sample: Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb (1979) ( file info) — 30 second sample of Comfortably Numb from the album The Wall (1979). ...

She returns to her folk roots with "Teen for God", an upbeat, thoughtful, skewering of the probable reality of teenage Bible camps: Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ...

Dear Lord, I plan each day
By the things I will not do or say
But I'm driven by a passion
Is it only there to tame?

Trivia

• The nickname "Dar" has erroneously been thought to relate to the Daughters of the American Revolution, which is mentioned in the song "Flinty Kind of Woman." However, it actually originated due to a mispronunciation of "Dorothy" by one of Williams's sisters.^[2]

• Williams is allergic to dairy products. As someone who has toured a great deal of the time and had trouble finding suitable dining on the road, Williams was inspired to write and publish a directory of natural food stores and restaurants called The Tofu Tollbooth in 1994.^[3] In 1998 Williams co-authored a second edition with Elizabeth Zipern.^[4]

• While writing songs for her album The Green World, Williams incorporated her ongoing interest in religion into the process. One particular inspiration was the book Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler.^[5]

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage membership organization[1] dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism. ... Dairy farm near Oxford, New York A dairy is a facility for the extraction and processing of animal milk (mostly from cows, sometimes from buffalo, sheep or goats) and other farm animals, for human consumption. ... A health food store is a type of grocery store that primarily sells natural or organic foods, and often nutritional supplements. ... Drawing Down the Moon: Also called Calling Down the Moon and Singing Down the Moon. ... Margot Adler (born 5 November 1946 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is a journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio. ...

Discography

• I Have No History (1990 - rare demo tape)
• All My Heroes are Dead (1991 - rare demo tape)
• The Honesty Room (1993)
• Mortal City (1996)
• End of The Summer (1997)
• Cry Cry Cry (1998, with Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky)
• The Green World (2000)
• Out There Live (2001)
• The Beauty of the Rain (2003)
• My Better Self (2005)

MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Honesty Room is an album by Dar Williams. ... el 18 de mayo nacio claudia // 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Mortal City is Dar Williamss 2nd album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... End of the Summer is an album by Dar Williams 1. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cry Cry Cry was a folk supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Dar Williams, and Lucy Kaplansky. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ... Richard Shindell is an American folk singer currently living in Argentina. ... Lucy Kaplansky (born February 2, 1960) is a New York City-based folk musician. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... My Better Self is a Dar Williams album which was released on September 13, 2005 by Razor & Tie. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

• The Tofu Tollbooth (1998, co-author)
• Amalee (May 2004)
• Lights, Camera, Amalee (July 2006)

Notes

2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tagged articles will be automatically categorised into Category:Possible copyright violations except this template. ...

External links

• Dar's Official Site
• DarWilliams.net
• Dar's MySpace