Stereo Embers The Podcast 0240: Dar Williams

“I’ll Meet You Here” The New York-born Dar Williams has been crafting some of the most engaging music of the last 30 years. A graduate of Wesleyan, Williams got her start in the early '90s in Boston. She had moved there to pursue a career in theater, but inspired by contemporaries like Throwing Muses and Melissa Ferrick, Williams starting writing songs of her own and she hit the ground running, knocking out cassette-only efforts like I Have No History and All My Heroes Are Dead. Her proper full length debut The Honesty Room came out on her own label Burning Field Music and found her a fan in Joan Baez who not only later recorded some of Dar’s songs, she invited Williams to tour with her. With almost 20 albums under her belt, including The Green World, Mortal City, My Better Self and her new one I’ll Meet You Here, Williams has established herself as one of the most enduring and endearing songwriters out there. She’s toured with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Ani Di Franco, recorded with everyone from John Prine to Clifff Eberhart and she formed the group Cry Cry Cry along with Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky as vehicle to honor their favorite folk numbers. An environmental activist, an educator and an author of several books ranging from YA to urban planning—her book The Tofu Tollbooth is an essential directory of natural food store-- Dar Williams kind of does it all. I’ll Meet You Here is her first new album in 6 years and it’s a refreshing blast of rootsy rock, introspective folk and horn-tinged Americana. This record is a melodic blast of utter musical joy. A playful lyricist who can also be so emotionally exact it’s like a direct sucker punch, Dar Williams is one of our very best.