The Green World

by

Dar Williams

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I had never heard of Dar Williams before a moment of words and music caught my attention in the background of a television show: "Once upon a time I had control / And reined my soul in tight." I tracked down the lyrics, from the song "After All," and ended up buying "The Green World." The song was a lyrical treasure, about the singer coming to terms with her family ("I am the daughter of a great romance / And they are the children of the war") and thereby unlocking her own life ("Well the sun rose with so many colors / It nearly broke my heart / And worked me over like a work of art . . ."). Not since I first heard Nanci Griffith singing "I Knew Love" have I listened to a new (to me, anyway) artist with such delight.

After listening to "After All" for about the hundredth time, I tried the rest of the album, and was pleasantly surprised that "After All" was not just a gem in a five-and-dime store. Dar Williams can write, and she can sing, and both with art and heart and depth and range. Even her slightly jaunty tunes ("What Do You Love More Than Love," "Another Mystery") glitter with wry lyrical twists. Her tribute "I Had No Right" introduced me to Father Daniel Berrigan, an antiwar activist in the Vietnam era, who coupled his protest with a deeply reflective personal literature about social conscience ("First it was question, then it was a mission / How to be American, how to be a Christian") that I have just begun exploring.

I have become a fan overnight. I look forward to getting to know the rest of Dar Williams's music.

Eh. That's about all. Eh. I've been a die-hard Dar fan since I heard her in concert for the first time, a private show at Bryn Mawr College's May Day festivities. But I think I missed something here. I found the production to be very heavy-handed when compared to older Dar, a little more mainstream -- stuff you might hear on the radio in between Celine Dion and Alanis Morrisette. Which is mostly a matter of personal preference. I felt like Dar's voice could have been showcased better, and has always been showcased better with the guitar and a background instrument or two; it seemed to be lost among the support this time around and I felt that her unique voice lost all its power because of this. On the upside, the songwriting was superb and thoughtful. It's listenable, but not superb.