I first heard Dar Williams (live) when I was 8 or 9 years old at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. She was my favorite artist back then and she made a little girl's day by telling me she loved my dress!
"When I Was a Boy" (@ 6:20) was the first of Dar Williams' songs I heard. That song, along with Peggy Seeger's "I Was Gonna Be an Engineer." Both hit me right in the gut, giving voice to my frustrations at being dismissed, being excluded, being discouraged, and being marked as less than - less promising, less capable, less committed, less fully human. This is powerful music, beautifully performed.
I first heard of Dar Williams from the owner of a small coffee shop in St. Paul MN, where there were are couple local artists playing in the coffee shop. I told the woman I liked the artists there, partly because I love accoustic and folk music. Right away she said "Oh my gosh, you have to hear Dar Williams! She is the best!" So I looked her up, bought the honesty room, and fell in love with her music. Then I bought Playing to The Firmament, and have seen Dar 3 times in concert in MN. Yes! Go Dar! I play guitar and write songs myself, so she inspires me in many ways.
I first heard her with Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell as part of Cry Cry Cry. If I'm not mistaken, they're getting together again in the near future, and they have a single out on CDBaby.
I came across Dar via her work with Joan Baez in the mid 90's on Joan's Ring Them Bells album. If I Was A Boy is one of my favorites of hers, besides Party Generation, Are You Out There? and You're Aging Well.
I met Dar in the Naked City Coffeehouse days. I played there also. And there was an open mic at the Kendall Cafe in Cambridge. She played there as well. I might still have her first cassette somewhere!
I first heard "When I Was A Boy" back in the mid 1990s and somehow even for a guy slightly over 40 (at the time) that song spoke volumes to me. I bought "The Honesty Room" shortly afterward. In 2006 I finally met her when I was working at WUMB in Boston and thanked her for that song. She said that over the course of the years performing that a lot of guys have mentioned just how much the song affected them.
I heard it in the mid-90s, too, around when I hit 30, and it had the same effect on me. (Growing up, my little sister was a tomboy, and was totally one of us guys.) I heard her do an in-store at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd, and spoke to her briefly. (She was dismayed that she couldn't find her backpack. I hope it was merely set in a safe place by an employee!) But even today, hearing that song has a powerful, powerful emotional impact on me. I'm not one to indulge in hyperbole, and I think it's among the most fully-realized and significant works of art I've ever come across. I mean-hello-addressing the confining nature of binary gender roles in the 1990s? And when Dar sings "even when I'm alone, I seldom do," I totally, totally do. Every single time.
this is my favorite Dar song. So emotional. So true. I can relate. I first "discovered" Dar when she opened up for Angelique Kidjo in San Francisco. I don't remember the year. I saw her live several times after that. Maybe I have it confused with another show, but I think that's right.
I remember hearing about Dar on one of those Majordomo email 'mailing lists' on Phil Ochs when the internet was just becoming something people had at school or the home. By coincidence I caught BBC Radio's Women's Hour a few weeks later and she played a couple of songs from The Honesty Room. Ordered it instantly. Have been evangelising her music ever since.
I always break down when she gets to the verse where she and a man are spilling their souls to one another about not fitting perfectly into gender roles. What a conversation that must have been for both of them.
I first heard Dar Williams (live) when I was 8 or 9 years old at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. She was my favorite artist back then and she made a little girl's day by telling me she loved my dress!
Wow I remember the FRFF!! I was 20! lol
@@wkdgrneyes so crazy!! That experience meant so so much to me.
"When I Was a Boy" (@ 6:20) was the first of Dar Williams' songs I heard. That song, along with Peggy Seeger's "I Was Gonna Be an Engineer." Both hit me right in the gut, giving voice to my frustrations at being dismissed, being excluded, being discouraged, and being marked as less than - less promising, less capable, less committed, less fully human. This is powerful music, beautifully performed.
She's a brilliantly progressive songwriter.
What a wonderful, open and articulate artist. So enlightening! Thank you.
I first heard of Dar Williams from the owner of a small coffee shop in St. Paul MN, where there were are couple local artists playing in the coffee shop. I told the woman I liked the artists there, partly because I love accoustic and folk music. Right away she said "Oh my gosh, you have to hear Dar Williams! She is the best!" So I looked her up, bought the honesty room, and fell in love with her music. Then I bought Playing to The Firmament, and have seen Dar 3 times in concert in MN. Yes! Go Dar! I play guitar and write songs myself, so she inspires me in many ways.
I first heard her with Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell as part of Cry Cry Cry. If I'm not mistaken, they're getting together again in the near future, and they have a single out on CDBaby.
Wonderful. What a gal and an inspiration.
I came across Dar via her work with Joan Baez in the mid 90's on Joan's Ring Them Bells album. If I Was A Boy is one of my favorites of hers, besides Party Generation, Are You Out There? and You're Aging Well.
I met Dar in the Naked City Coffeehouse days. I played there also. And there was an open mic at the Kendall Cafe in Cambridge. She played there as well. I might still have her first cassette somewhere!
I must have first heard Dar Williams on WERS in Boston in the early '80's when I was in the Army at Fort Devens, MA...every song is a favorite.
She's great. We all lucked out that she stuck with it through all the discouraging noise around her!
I first heard "When I Was A Boy" back in the mid 1990s and somehow even for a guy slightly over 40 (at the time) that song spoke volumes to me. I bought "The Honesty Room" shortly afterward. In 2006 I finally met her when I was working at WUMB in Boston and thanked her for that song. She said that over the course of the years performing that a lot of guys have mentioned just how much the song affected them.
the end of the song kills me because - there it is. I cry every time.
I heard it in the mid-90s, too, around when I hit 30, and it had the same effect on me. (Growing up, my little sister was a tomboy, and was totally one of us guys.) I heard her do an in-store at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd, and spoke to her briefly. (She was dismayed that she couldn't find her backpack. I hope it was merely set in a safe place by an employee!) But even today, hearing that song has a powerful, powerful emotional impact on me. I'm not one to indulge in hyperbole, and I think it's among the most fully-realized and significant works of art I've ever come across. I mean-hello-addressing the confining nature of binary gender roles in the 1990s? And when Dar sings "even when I'm alone, I seldom do," I totally, totally do. Every single time.
this is my favorite Dar song. So emotional. So true. I can relate. I first "discovered" Dar when she opened up for Angelique Kidjo in San Francisco. I don't remember the year. I saw her live several times after that. Maybe I have it confused with another show, but I think that's right.
I remember hearing about Dar on one of those Majordomo email 'mailing lists' on Phil Ochs when the internet was just becoming something people had at school or the home.
By coincidence I caught BBC Radio's Women's Hour a few weeks later and she played a couple of songs from The Honesty Room. Ordered it instantly. Have been evangelising her music ever since.
Nice to hear her mention the naysayers as part of the journey...
Naked City Coffeehouse, yes!
I always break down when she gets to the verse where she and a man are spilling their souls to one another about not fitting perfectly into gender roles. What a conversation that must have been for both of them.
It is not the Collings guitar that makes her a star,great player!
I love you Dar but a $4000 acoustic guitar can't really be called the "Prius" of guitars! LOL
$4000 is a very low estimate for that guitar, even though she bought it long ago.
can my eyes roll any harder out of my head lol
i'm sure she doesn't need your advice on guitars
you mean a talk too much session!
Asshole.
Here's a tip, misogyny boy: if you don't want to listen to an artist talk, maybe don't click on an interview with them.