“It’s a highway, filled with deep, exotic colors and beautiful, delicate things as well as the perils that come from moving so fast,” says Dar Williams, describing modern life. On her 13th album, Hummingbird Highway, out September 12th on Righteous Babe Records, Williams celebrates 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 latest chapter in a richly unfolding story. Drawing on her experience as a playwright, Williams populates her latest album with nuanced characters that come alive in the space of a few minutes.
Mainly produced by Ken Rich at Brooklyn’s Grand Street recording (with two tracks produced by Dave Chalfant in Western Massachusetts), the Hummingbird Highway sessions were a microcosm of the interdependence that provided inspiration from inception to full production. These songs 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 and immersive sonic landscapes of every musical genre. Simpatico “studio magic” 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 contemplative “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 to stem industrial pollution, the character moves through shifting mindsets to work towards “what we see; what we breathe in time.”
Longtime listeners know that Williams and her music are always up for those kinds of conversations that glimpse the brightest colors, woven into the larger context of time. “As I’ve gotten older, I feel more comfortable holding a lot of different threads in my hand to create 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 themes and characters. It’s daunting, and I’ve learned that, you know, daunting is fine, just keep going.”
Today, Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the album’s title track, where Williams sings from the perspective of a child speaking to her peripatetic and sometimes 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 head. The child, for better or worse, knows that there is joy, unpredictability, and instability on the home front. She’s rooting for the joy.” Musically, the song gallops along with a medium-tempo beat that almost sounds like the fluttering of a bird while Williams’ vocals glide right along with soulful warmth. There is a feeling of freedom, reflection, and celebration that comes from the rich timeless lyrics and soaring harmonies. For Williams, the song marks an exciting addition to a catalog that is already quite impressive.
Williams describes the inspiration behind the song:
I heard about the “Hummingbird Highway” that runs through the middle of Belize when I was playing on a cruise and took a day trip to a spice farm there. What an image! What a metaphor! My life has been a beautiful hummingbird highway. I’ve seen alligators, grizzly bears, giant manta rays, and, yes, so many hummingbirds. The touring life is also filled with emotional vicissitudes that my friends and I bring home to our families, along with our gifts like “cinnamon bark from a cinnamon tree.” Hummingbird Highway is a celebrational song from a kid’s point of view, welcoming a flawed but loving parent home from another colorful journey.
LISTEN:
One Response
Beautiful song!