SONG OF THE DAY
“Spring Street” by Dar Williams (The Green World, Razor & Tie Records, 2000). Written by Dar Williams
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– The Green World is the fourth studio album by American folk music singer-songwriter Dar Williams.
– While writing songs for the album, Williams incorporated her ongoing interest in religion into the process. One particular inspiration was the book Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler.
– Williams was born in Mount Kisco, New York, and grew up in Chappaqua with two older sisters, Meredith and Julie.
– Her nickname “Dar” originated due to a mispronunciation of “Dorothy” by one of Williams’s sisters.
– 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 more interested in drama at the time, and majored in theater and religion at Wesleyan University.
– 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, but on the side began to write songs, record demo tapes, and take voice lessons. Her voice teacher encouraged her to try performing at coffeehouses, but her early years performing were made difficult by the intimidating nature of the Boston folk music scene, as well as her own battle with stage fright.
– Early in Williams’s music career, she opened for Joan Baez, who would make her relatively well known by recording some of her songs (Williams also dueted with Baez on Ring Them Bells). Her growing popularity has since relied heavily on community coffeehouses, public radio, and an extensive fan base on the Internet.
– 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.
– On May 4, 2002, she married Michael Robinson, an old friend from college. Their son, Stephen Gray Robinson, was born on April 24, 2004. She currently resides in Hudson Highlands, New York.
– Williams wants her music to be an “efficient career,” 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.”
– Recurrent themes in Williams’s songs include religion, adolescence, gender issues, anti-commercialism, misunderstood relationships, loss, humor, and geography. Her early work spoke clearly of her upbringing in 1970s and 80s suburbia — of alienation, and the hypocrisy evident in the post-WWII middle class.
– 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”.