Sunday, December 23, 2007

Dar Williams Covers:
Springsteen, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Beatles...



It took me a while to get into Dar Williams. The way she plays with the strong break between her bold lower tones and her breathy upper register is an acquired taste. Her songwriting is generally wry and poignant, but it takes more than one skim-the-surface listen to appreciate its complexity. She tends towards strong, heavy production, which attracts a younger alt-folk crowd, but can overwhelm her well-crafted, literate lyrics.

But at her best, Dar is an incredible artist. Her songwriting and her stage presence are so raw and fragile, it's like what it must have been like to see Joni Mitchell during her Blue period. She picks distinctive, powerful voices for harmony, weaves a rich, complex tapestry to tell her strum and story. Her work is the soundtrack of my soul. Her music is listenable, mature, and strong, and it bears repeating.

Dar is flat-out incredible live. I've seen her half a dozen times, maybe, and she just radiates good cheer and a cute, puppy-dog-awkward stage discomfort that makes you want to root for her. When she plays Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, she always asks the field to light up their cellphones and lighters all-at-once when she does "Iowa", and there's that created moment where she's just awestruck and gasping, and you cry there in the dark, for the beauty of it all.

I was hoping to find a bootlegged copy of Dar covering the Cat Stevens song Peace Train this summer on stage at FRFF with the Slambovian Circus of Dreams. Alas, we'll just have to go on without it. Happily, there's plenty of coverlove to put forth, from the sweet, poignant Pierce Pettis cover Family to the urban popfolk ride of the Kinks' Better Things -- both of which Dar makes so much her own I didn't realize they were covers when I first heard them. Plus great covers of Springsteen, The Beatles, The Band, Nick Lowe, Pink Floyd, and some bonus songs, as always: supergroup Cry, Cry, Cry, a cover of a Dar song by the very first artist we ever featured here on Cover Lay Down, and another cover of that Kinks song. And don't forget to head back to last month's archives to pick up Dar's folkrockin' cover of David Bowie's Starman after you're finished here.


Dar Williams has just come out with a new live DVD, which includes a cover of the Grateful Dead song Ripple. Her management usually frowns on pre-release, so buy Live at Bearsville, and the rest of her amazing catalog, and find out for yourself how intimate and powerful Dar Williams can be.

Today's bonus coversongs:


30 comments:

Robin Marie said...

My Dar experience was very similar! A bit shaky, off and on at first, but in the end she can make me cry every time.

Richard Shindell is one of my favorites also, and thanks so much for sharing those two songs!

Anonymous said...

Nice pick on the Pierce Pettis cover. I saw him perform a couple weeks ago in Nashville at the Behold the Lamb of God Concert. Good stuff.

Have a great Holiday!

Anonymous said...

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

Thank you for the new Dar(-related) tracks (I had most already, but you had stuff that's new to me too! Yay!) and thank you for writing such a glowing, honest review of Dar and her music. I'm a huge fan and I'm always glad to see other people feel the same way.

If you do ever find that Peace Train cover, please do share?

bell

Anonymous said...

I also adore Dar! She’s fantastic - quirky and touching, and she writes incredibly beautiful songs. Have been keeping a look-out for this post since your mention of her cover songs a little while ago! Thanks for posting these gems, have downloaded the ones I didn’t already have in my collection.

And great blog! I always enjoy your posts and comments, and have heard about some great music here... keep on rockin’ (or at least folk-rockin’)!

boyhowdy said...

I did promise, didn't I, Olivia? Glad the post was worth the wait!

Peter Shafran said...

You couldn't have looked very hard for the video of Dar and Gandalf Murphy doing Peace Train at FRFF
Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUHsdl74mvM&mode=related&search=

boyhowdy said...

Nice find, Peter!

I had been looking for an audio-only cover; hadn't even thought of looking for video.

And certainly didn't expect to find a video taken from within a couple of dozen feet of where I was sitting! The sound quality isn't even that bad -- it sounds just like I remember it!

Unknown said...

how 'bout her Starman cover

boyhowdy said...

"...And don't forget to head back to last month's archives to pick up Dar's folkrockin' cover of David Bowie's Starman after you're finished here."

Starman cover is in this post. Enjoy, Nick!

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hi all, for weeks, I've been following your blog about Dar Williams Covers:
Springsteen, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Beatles..., I love the approach that you give to this subject, thank you very much!

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