All she is saying is give peace a chance
Dar Williams is an unapologetically political singer Has found inspiration and solace in Canada
Few contemporary American songwriters convey in their work the kind of fiery political conviction Dar Williams does. Even when she’s not performing, compelling issues of the times — the Iraq war, White House duplicity, globalization and fair trade — bubble to the surface of her discourse. She’s troubled.
“ I feel as if we’re at the bottom of a deep breath, waiting for the next inhale,” Williams says from her home in upstate New York, a few days before setting out on a trip to Canada that will bring her tonight to the Church of the Redeemer, where she’s performing a rare solo concert. Having just finished a short tour of her homeland to promote her latest CD, the well reviewed My Better Self, Williams is uncomfortable with what she has seen and can’t wait to get to Canada, which she values, she says, “ for your elevated dialogue and the participatory spirit I see there in art and culture, politics and municipal activity.’’
“ I retreated to Montreal for a while before I recorded The Green World
album ( which came out in 2000), and spent a lot of time driving around the country, to Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, listening to the CBC and Canadian talk radio. “They were places that had mojo for me,” she said. “ There are only three cities in the U. S. where I feel the same magic. It’s so different in America.” Her own country is in a bad mood, she says.
“ In a few of the cities we played, no amount of rabblerousing could get people out of their homes. It’s too important a time not to get out and look around. We can’t afford to drown our sorrows in the big box life. Now, more than ever, it’s time to get political about how you spend your time and money.
“There’s a criminal government in Washington and the pendulum has swung as far right as it should go. It’s time for another big breath.”
That breath may come from a new breed of socially motivated songwriters and thinkers — Ani DiFranco, Bruce Cockburn, Carrie Newcomer — who eschew both the flagged politics of the traditional Left and Right, and the “ authority sucks” sophistry that was pervasive in the 1960s, and which she calls “ hackneyed, imitation political posturing fostered by a record industry that courted disdain for profit.’’
“ It’s so easy to mock, not so easy these days to even identify the causes that are worth fighting for. You have to pick your political battles carefully. Political songwriting now is very pointed. You have to choose specific issues that point to a better understanding of how to improve the general condition.” And just talking the talk won’t cut it, she says.
“ Music has a safety net. Some of it would slip right through the cracks if it didn’t remind us that we shouldn’t be killing one another.
“ Political songs might not make it onto commercial radio, but they survive on satellite radio, Internet radio and independent networks like Air America.
“ Even so, audiences need proof of your conviction. I talk and write about fair trade, and I support it in my wardrobe by wearing clothes made in collectives, not in sweat shops.
“ Trade issues in these times are the life and death of democracy.” As troubled as she is about the state of her nation, Williams is content with her life in the Hudson Valley, with her husband and young son.
“ You can despair or you can get on with your life. I enjoy my home, my friends, my family, my garden, the food we make, our conversation.
“ I’m not sure the world is getting any better with cable and the Internet, with blogs and other kinds of hypnotizing technology.
“ People need to get out and talk to each other, join the street- level intelligentsia. That’s where the real dialogue is happening.”