University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 18, Feb. 6, 1997
Dar Williams tickets available for March 1 concert

     Tickets are now on sale for a concert by contemporary
folksinger Dar Williams, scheduled at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1,
in Mitchell Hall.
     The concert will kick off the celebration of Women's History
Month at UD.
     Williams, whose gentle, earnest singing echoes Emmylou
Harris and Judy Collins, has been called the preeminent voice in
20-something contemporary folk. The New York Times said her songs
"glow with compassion and intelligence," and the Los Angeles
Times praised her for "layers of emotion that ring achingly
true...a funny, confident and a warm presence, with songs that
expand the folk genre... with modern lyrics of intelligence and
wit... but beneath all the cleverness and humor is authentic emotion
that lingers long after the laughs have faded."
     In 1996, she emerged as a most convincing new writer and
performer. Her second album, Mortal City, sold more than 40,000
copies in its first six months-a huge number for an independent
release. Her first single, "As Cool As I Am," cracked the
influential "Radio & Records" Top 30 chart-doubtless the first
charting single ever recorded with the artist sitting on her own
bed, blankets and sleeping bags tacked to the wall of her
apartment, the neighbors attempting to keep their dogs and
chickens quiet.
     The success of Mortal City came on the heels of Williams'
extraordinary debut, The Honesty Room, an almost entirely
homemade recording, which included the hit "You're Aging Well."
Folk diva Joan Baez included the song-in a duet with Williams-on
her 1995 Ring Them Bells album, which featured Baez' favorite
women artists, including Mary-Chapin Carpenter and the Indigo
Girls.
     After a European tour together in March 1996, Williams and
Baez launched a six-week national tour that sold out in most of
the venues played. Since then, Williams has been touring nonstop
on her own.
     "When I write a song, I think, 'Am I the only person who's
experienced this?' " Williams says. "But, over and over, I have
the gratifying experience of people coming up to me and saying
how they'd always thought they were the only ones to feel that
way."
     Her wit and humor are evident in her explanation of her
winter holiday song, "The Christians and The Pagans," which she
says "is a Christmas song, but it's a Christmas song for the
'90s...with a kind of Currier and Ives feel to it; an old-
fashioned Christmas, complete with the lights, the birds, the
trees...and the unexpected arrival of the young, lesbian
relatives."
     Proving just how much she is a woman of the '90s, much of
Williams' word-of-mouth success is attributable to the Internet,
where she has quickly become a favorite in the music chat zones.
Today, one fan maintains a comprehensive World Wide Web page that
includes regular updates, tour information and itineraries.
Another runs the Dar-list, linking several hundred worldwide
subscribers for discussion of her music. The decentralized nature
of the Internet makes it a natural ground for attracting kindred
spirits who appreciate the strong independence that permeates her
work.
     Tickets for the March 1 concert at UD are $8 for the general
public and $5 for UD faculty, staff and students and are
available at the Bob Carpenter Center and the Trabant University
Center box offices. For more information, call UD1-HENS or
contact the Office of Women's Affairs at 831-8063.
     In addition to the Office of Women's Affairs, sponsors of
the concert include the Commission on the Status of Women, the
Office of Alumni and University Relations and the Resident
Student Association.
                                          -Beth Thomas