BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:156557@kingstonhappenings.org DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T190000 DTSTAMP:20260504T142629Z URL:https://kingstonhappenings.org/events/dar-williams/ SUMMARY:DAR WILLIAMS DESCRIPTION:“It’s a highway\, filled with deep\, exotic colors and beau tiful delicate things as well as the perils that come from moving so fast\ ,” says Dar Williams\, describing modern life. On her 13th album\, Hummi ngbird Highway\, out September 12 on Righteous Babe Records\, Williams cel ebrates the colors she glimpses from her vantage as a touring musician. “I was a kid from the suburbs who listened when her hippie teachers said to get out in the world\,” Williams muses. Hummingbird Highway is the l atest chapter in a richly unfolding story. Drawing on her experience as a playwright\, Williams populates her latest album with nuanced characters t hat come alive in the space of a few minutes.\nOn the title track\, Willia ms sings from the perspective of a child speaking to her peripatetic and s ometimes struggling parent. Blooming columbines\, china blue teapots\, and cinnamon bark number among the “treasures” in her life\, despite the “pirates” that she imagines populating her worldly parent’s life. “The pirates can be all sorts of things living inside and outside your h ead. The child\, for better or worse\, knows that there is joy\, unpredict ability\, and instability on the home front. She’s rooting for the joy. ”\nSince 2013\, Williams has been leading songwriting workshops where sh e teaches students to let songs find their own trajectories. While writing the breezy bossa nova “Tu Sais Le Printemps\,” (single release 7/29/2 5) Williams questioned why she was writing a light\, flirty song amidst ma ny gloomy news stories. “I was having coffee with some of my fellow retr eat leaders and Beth Nielsen Chapman\, telling them about my ‘frilly’ song\, and Beth said\, ‘That's just what I want to hear right now!’ It was a nice moment to follow my own advice and let the song find its way. ”\nWith help from Williams’ collaborators\, the other songs found thei r paths as well. Mainly produced by Ken Rich at Brooklyn’s Grand Street recording (with two tracks produced by Dave Chalfant in Western Massachuse tts)\, the Hummingbird Highway sessions were a microcosm of the interdepen dence that provided inspiration from inception to full production. These s ongs are ecosystems that thrive on co-creation. Daisy Mayhem brings roots- rock energy to the bluegrassy “Put the Coins on His Eyes\,” while long time touring-mate and collaborator Bryn Roberts creates both the hooks an d immersive sonic landscapes of every musical genre. Simpatico “studio m agic” can be heard in the happy rowdiness of the Richard Thompson cover\ , “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight\,” as well as in the contem plative “Sacred Mountain” where Williams wraps a halting melody around the narrator\, a Buddhist who struggles to reconcile inward contemplation and political action. Through gray skies\, snow pigeons\, and petitions t o stem industrial pollution\, the character moves through shifting mindset s to work towards “what we see\; what we breathe in time.”\nWilliams s ees and breathes the way people connect with one another\, as chronicled i n what she calls her “take on urban planning\,” What I Found in a Thou sand Towns (Basic Books\, 2017). “I traveled and watched how other peopl e created these cool things like town-wide science fairs and hilarious cel ebrations of potatoes and chili\, often going hand-in-hand with providing serious resources like food banks and free clinics\,” she recalls. Along the way\, she’s seen the devotion of strong unions (as in “Put the Co ins On His Eyes”) and congressional reps alike. “Maryland\, Maryland ” was inspired by conversations with her friend\, Rep. Jamie Raskin\, ab out what a new state song would include. “In the end\, my definition of a Maryland song was song about Jamie\, who is a proud\, patriotic son of t he state.” As Williams continuously takes in the social landscapes of to wns and cities\, she has also taken them home\, helping to start a thrift sale\, chairing a community board\, and helping to organize group sings in her New York hometown. “For someone who’s seen a lot of pavement and airports along with all the great places where I’ve played\, it’s espe cially nice to come home\,” she says.\nAs hummingbirds and folk singers fly\, they gain perspective and not just distance. She finds that wise per ch on “Olive Tree\,” a single out on August 26. With production of sti rring percussion and twinkling keys\, she considers everything that’s le d up to our current moment. Williams observes “all of these strangers an d friends” talking about world events at parties and dinner gatherings a nd thinks back to all the iterations of those conversations from Aristotle on. In a moving verse\, she conjures a time in 1913 when California Berke ley scientists planted an olive grove in the United States and imagined th e generations who would meet in the olive trees’ shade for “over one t housand years.” When Williams promises “I’ll meet you here under an olive tree\,” we all know that both she and we will\, wherever and whene ver we continue to foster olive trees and a human-scale\, deeply-rooted de mocratic society.\nLongtime listeners know that Williams and her music are always up for those kinds of conversations that glimpse the brightest col ors\, woven into the larger context of time. “As I've gotten older\, I f eel more comfortable holding a lot of different threads in my hand to crea te more complicated patterns. Time has given me a better ability to hold a bunch of colors and temperaments and see what happens\, where they become interesting new stories and also where I need to stop and untangle the th emes and characters. It's daunting\, and I've learned that\, you know\, da unting is fine\, just keep going.”\nSPENCER LAJOYE\nSpencer LaJoye is ma king queer indie folk music for everyone. They are a coast-to-coast singer /songwriter and vocal loop artist with Midwest roots\, a classically-train ed violinist with an inner theater kid’s love of group choreography\, an d a student of Americana music with a theology degree hanging in their stu dio. The 2021 Kerrville Songwriting Competition winner and 2024 Songwriter Serenade winner has been writing and touring their autobiographical folk songs for over a decade\, but their viral 2021 anthem “Plowshare Prayer ” secured them a permanent place in hearts and households across the wor ld\, as well as a peculiar career as a veracious songsmith with an unshake able pastoral presence. Charming and banter-heavy\, Spencer’s performanc es keep audiences laughing one moment and weeping the next ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://kingstonhappenings.org/wp-content/upload s/2026/05/573623781_122192200520562532_1498082546150704515_n.jpg CATEGORIES:@Featured,@Newsletter,Music,Nightlife and entertainment LOCATION:Assembly\, 236 Wall St. 3rd Floor\, KINGSTON\, NY\, 12401\, United States GEO:41.931738;-74.018648 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=236 Wall St. 3rd Floor\, KI NGSTON\, NY\, 12401\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Assembly:ge o:41.931738,-74.018648 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR