Dar Williams' show like a homecoming
Thursday, April 10, 2008
By CHRIS DONDOROS
From The Republican

It was one night nearly 15 years ago, just a block away from the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, that Dar Williams decided to make music her full-time career.

Eight albums, a live DVD, and even a pair of children's books later, there's no need to argue with that decision.

Cover storyWilliams again returns to the city she called home for nearly a decade - and the inspiration for many of her songs - on Saturday night with a performance at the Calvin.

"The audiences are a little bit like what I encounter in California," said Williams, who now makes her home in New York state. "They're really smart people and also very fun," she said, naming off a number of her favorite places in the city.

"Downtown Sounds is one of the best stores in the country" she said. Despite living hours away, Williams said she still brings her guitars to the Pleasant Street shop to get work done.

Williams has won the respect and admiration of both musicians and nonmusicians alike with her stunning vocal abilities, keen sense of melody, and lyrics that are simultaneously witty, insightful, and straight from her heart.

This comes naturally to the singer-songwriter-guitarist, who first discovered folk music while sifting through her father's record collection as a child.

"It was the folk rock. There were two halves of his record collection, one being folk and the other classical," said Williams. "It was alphabetical: Joan Baez, The Beatles, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash," she said.

Williams said that some of her all-time favorite songs include Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat," The Rolling Stones' "Shattered," The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain."

One of her childhood heroes eventually would play an integral role in her career. "Early on in my career I toured with Joan Baez," she said.

Although Williams hasn't released a CD since 2005's "My Better Self," she's engaged herself in other creative endeavors: she released her second children's book, "Lights, Camera, Amalee" in 2006.

Her first book, "Amalee," was released in 2004.

Williams said that Scholastic approached her about writing a book and gave her the freedom to write about whatever she wanted. "They're for 11- to 12-year-olds, they were life-changing" she said.

Both books focus around the title character, 11-year old Amalee, as she grows up not only as an only child, but without a mother.

She faces many hardships along the way - such as her father's illness in the first book and the death of her grandmother in the second - finding support from her family and friends.

Williams said she wrote the books to show children that adults aren't as intimidating as they may appear to be on the surface.

"I want to encourage that door to open," she said, referring to communication between children and adults. "Adults help kids in the books," she said.

Williams has also involved herself in the community and a number of different organizations. "If I didn't do this I would be a publicist for the environment," she said.

In 2005, Williams formed the Echoes Initiative, a program that allows her to partner with different organizations to help raise funds and awareness for their causes. These causes range from education to domestic violence to environmental issues.

"Being inclusive about planetary healing is a passion of mine," she said, citing other causes such as renewable fuel and locally grown food.

"I'm also one of those people that tries to get people to eat healthy," she said.