On one level, the sizable body of work accumulated by celebrated writer/artist Dar Williams is a continuing narrative of her life — what she’s experienced and what she’s observed during her years of intensive touring. On another, it forms a detailed look at the course of modern-day existence in the decade and a half between 1993, when Williams released her debut album, The Honesty Room, and 2008, when her longtime label Razor & Tie released her seventh and most recent studio album, Promised Land. Throughout her career, Williams has employed a reporter’s keen eye and a fiction writer’s feel for nuance in the act of confronting what she’s described as “the big picture of how people approach life,” doing by examining and illuminating the minute details.
These juxtaposed thematic arcs, laden with intriguing narrative twists and vivid imagery, are cast in sharp relief on Many Great Companions, a two-CD set (released Oct. 12 on Razor & Tie) that generously and comprehensively pairs a career overview with the artist’s latest recording project. The first disc contains luminous, newly recorded acoustic performances of a dozen of Williams’ most sharply drawn and resonant songs; the second cherry-picks 19 of her classics, along with her uplifting take on Ray Davies’ Kinks gem “Better Things,” which fits in seamlessly with the originals. On the new tracks, Williams is joined by Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, who doubles as producer, sometimes in tandem with the artist. Also making memorable appearances are Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek fame, fellow singer/songwriters Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Larkin, and the trio Motherlode.
As a whole, the collection charts Williams’ course from an upstart neo-folkie to a seasoned artist who’s also a community-involved wife, mother and “involved neighbor,” as she puts it. Williams and her husband Michael, who live in the Hudson River Valley 90 minutes from New York City, have a six-year-old son, Stephen, and an adopted daughter, Ethiopia-born Taya, who’s one and a half.
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At the core of Williams’ work is a belief in the innate ability of people to make a better world, the product of countless observations in her travels and conversations with her fans. If anything, her optimism has intensified as she’s crisscrossed America during the tough times of recent years. “My big secret,” she says, with a twinkle in her eye, “is that we are gonna make it — but we’ll be the last to know.”
