When I saw and interviewed The New Mendicants at Dingwalls back at the end of January I also had the pleasure of chatting to Malojian who was supporting them. During our conversation he mentioned that he was returning to the UK to support Dar Williams on her tour in March. She’s a wonderful singer-songwriter and I’ve enjoyed her music, especially since hearing her version of Highway Patrolman on the Badlands: Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album. That seemed like a good reminder to familiarise myself with the rest of her large body of work and try and catch up with her too before she arrived. I was able to arrange to speak to her on the phone last week while she was still in America, still quite early in the morning and I was out and about here, but I was able to record our chat.
We were able to cover a lot of ground during our conversation. She is touring the UK supporting her latest album In The Time Of Gods, but also it was the 20th anniversary of her debut album, The Honesty Room. We were able to talk about how she got the first album released and the differences of each album since and that landmarks they reflected in her life. I learned how her creative process hasn’t changed, but she has along her journey, what she brings to her music and how even being in different places can affect her music. Also I was able to talk about the cover versions she has performed, particularly Highway Patrolman which introduced me to her music and Comfortably Numb which includes a wonderful contribution by Ani DiFranco on vocals. Dar also teaches music to young people and in workshops and it was great to hear her perspective on how young people are engaging with the world and the optimism that brings. Speaking of optimism, I was also able to ask Dar about ‘Positive Proximity‘, which is something she has been speaking about and helping encourage in small towns, where through social capital-building, towns can become unique, prosperous and self-reliant.
Also on the show I was able to play songs from a couple of artists who unfortunately left us recently. Legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia and former Cry of Love singer Kelly Holland died within a couple of days of each other towards the end of February and I celebrated their life and how they were able to shine.
You can listen to it all again here:
You can listen to and download the interview without the music via my Soundcloud page.
And you can find out more about the tour dates here.
Here’s the playlist for the 4th March 2014 (Albums in brackets)
1. The Black Crowes – Hotel Illness (The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion – 1992)
2. Robert Francis & The Night Tide – Baby Was The Devil (Heaven – 2014)
3. Cry Of Love – Highway Jones (Brother – 1993)
4. Paco De Lucia – Chick (Zyryab – 1990)
5. Dar Williams – The Light and the Sea (In the Time of Gods – 2012)
6. Dar Williams – You’re Ageing Well (The Honesty Room – 1993)
7. Dar Williams – The Easy Way (Live) (Many Great Companions – 2010)
8. Dar Williams – This Is Not The House That Pain Built (The Honesty Room – 1993)
9. Dar Williams – Comfortably Numb (My Better Self – 2005)
10. Dar Williams – Highway Patrolman (Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska – 2000)
11. Dar Williams – This Earth (In The Time Of Gods – 2012)
12. Dar Williams – Crystal Creek (In The Time Of Gods – 2012)
13. Allen Morgan – Tide of light (Light Tide – 2013)
14. Bliss – Come Into The Light (A Hundred Thousand Angels – 2004)
