My Interview with Dar

She keeps her act in the here and now
Friday, November 30, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

Courtesy of darwilliams.com.

She remembers the night well. It was Nov. 13, 1992 -- a Friday the 13th, at that -- and she'd just had a big fight with her boyfriend. It was dark, and she was riding an emotional roller coaster, but she was booked for a gig.

On the drive over to the venue, singer-songwriter Dar Williams had a revelation.

"Trying to be this person who I'm not even sure I like seems like a waste of time," she realized. "Why don't I talk about the things that are relevant right now?"

Until then, her act consisted of a scripted monologue that led her from song to song. But on that fateful night, her trademark performance style of off-the-cuff remarks was born.

But Williams, who performs at Carnegie Hall on Saturday and in Brooklyn on Sunday, wasn't the first to come up with the natural, slightly humorous style. "Really, I don't know many performers in my genre who have felt a staged persona really works," she said.

She did, however, learn from the best. While promoting her 1996 album, Williams toured as the opening act for folk music godmother Joan Baez. Once, when Baez was about to play a song written by Williams, she dropped the following jibe in lieu of an intro:

FAST FACTS
WHO: Dar Williams.
WHAT: Folk-pop music.
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan; 212-247-7800 or carnegiehall.org. Southpaw, 125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn; 718-230-0236 or spsounds.com.
HOW MUCH: $38 to $44 (Carnegie Hall); $30 advance, $35 at the door (Southpaw).
WHERE TO HEAR: darwilliams.com.

"She said, 'I'm going to sing a song written by a very unpleasant person,' " said Williams. " 'This person is so unpleasant that she prides herself on it.' "

Although she was shocked at the time and the audience had a good chuckle at her expense, Williams tucked away the moment in her memory. Now she tries to maintain that sense of spontaneity in her own act.

"To be spontaneous and improvise onstage is a way to tell yourself and your audience that you're still there," she said. "You're not getting your show from the teleprompter. You're present."

Nowadays, Williams headlines her own shows, but she frequently has a guest to bring some unexpected X-factor: her 3½-year-old son, Stephen. Tiny though he may be, he's already sung onstage -- a rousing rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," according to his proud mother.

He travels to about half of Williams' performances, covering a lot of ground for a toddler. "He's slept on the tour bus," said Williams warmly. But it's a tough life sometimes: "He had the most hellacious, embarrassing temper tantrum on a plane recently," she added in the same breath.

He also has an unsurprising kinship with his mother's songs. His current favorite, said Williams, is "Mercy of the Fallen," from her 2003 album "The Beauty of the Rain." More than once, she has caught him singing lines from the song to himself.

Like doing a gig, living with a 3-year-old can be spontaneous fun. Once, when the television news covered an item about the Iowa caucuses, Stephen's ears perked up.

"He said, 'Iowa ... Iowa,' " Williams recalled. " 'That's your song, Mommy.' "

Williams fans will most definitely agree: Her classic tune, "Iowa," is much more moving than politics.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Copyright Infringement Notice User Agreement & Privacy Policy