An Interview with Dar Williams

The 56-year-old singer-songwriter talks with Cliff Chenfeld—a former music exec who signed her to his label for several records—about her 30-plus years playing, getting older, and more.

Left, Dar Williams; Right, Cliff Chenfeld

Dar Williams is a critically-acclaimed American pop folk singer-songwriter whose songs often touch on matters of social justice. She is a frequent performer at folk festivals and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, the Nields, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Joan Baez, and Catie Curtis. She’s recorded ten studio records and published several books, including, What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities-One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time and How to Write a Song that Matters. She has taught an undergraduate course at Wesleyan University about movements and democracy, and leads songwriting retreats in Connecticut and online.

Cliff Chenfeld co-founded and was co-CEO of Razor & Tie, an independent music company that included a label, a music publishing company and the kids’ audio brand Kidz Bop. Razor + Tie had numerous Gold and Platinum records and was one of the largest independently owned music companies in the United States. Chenfeld and his partner Craig Balsam sold Razor + Tie in 2018. He is the host of the radio show Modern Sounds on which he plays and speaks about new music for busy listeners who are looking for help in discovering new artists. Chenfeld also curates the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify which he updates regularly with new music. Chenfeld is partner in several music festivals including WonderBus (Columbus, Ohio) and WonderWorks (Pittsburgh). He has also been the executive producer of a number of films including Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound, Serious Moonlight and Concussion. Find him on Instagram at @cchenfeld.

---

Readers,

I was thrilled when former music executive (and Modern Sounds radio host) Cliff Chenfeld told me he was interested in interviewing musicians who have longevity as recording artists for Oldster Magazine. Chenfeld—who each month provides The Oldster Top 10 for a link roundup from his Modern Sounds Spotify playlist—knows music, and the music business. And his experience as a radio host makes him a good candidate for this “job.”

I was doubly thrilled when he suggested as his first subject folk-pop artist Dar Williams as his first subject, who is getting ready to tour—tickets for her January, 2024 dates with the Amy Ray Band go on sale today.

I’m a fan. (One time, when I lived next to the firehouse in Rosendale, N.Y., Williams played the Rosendale Street Festival’s “Firehouse Stage” next door, and it was so great, it almost made up for living next to that godforsaken siren. Almost.) I’ve also long toyed with going on one of Williams’ “Writing a Song That Matters” songwriting retreats in Chester, Connecticut. January 4-7, 2024, she’s offering a virtual one, online.

Dar Williams, photographed by Ebru Yildiz.

Also fittingly, Williams was signed to the record label Chenfeld co-ran, Razor & Tie Records, for several albums, beginning with 1993’s The Honesty Room. So, they have thirty years of history. In this interview, they reminisce about that, and also discuss Williams’ more than three decades as a singer-songwriter (she put out her first two records on her own, a few years before her Razor & Tie deal!), and aging—as a woman, and as a musician.

A small sample of their conversation:

Chenfeld: Can you talk about the song “You're Aging Well”?…which you wrote when you were 26 or roughly in that range.

Williams: I was watching an episode of Thirtysomething when I was thinking about all this. They were constantly talking about aging on that show. At Wesleyan, where I went to college, the dance department was filled with these women who were filling their pieces with contemplation, with their wisdom. They were really wise professors, and most of them were women. The song sort of started to pop into my head. I was reflecting on how these modern dancers, women who had real thighs and real arms and stomachs—modern dance has a lot to do with respecting the volume of your body as opposed to ballet, in which you're trying to look like a line, basically. I was thinking about how much they were taking up this beautiful space. There was so much that was ineffable. It's the language of dance, and how their work was so much better because of how they lived. And they had inhabited those bodies for 40, 50, 60 years. And at the time, I had been dumped by someone who was 27 and I was 25 for a 20-year-old.

Hope you enjoy the interview. Here it is:

Here’s Dar Williams performing “You’re Aging Well,” from her 1993 record, The Honesty Room, which is mentioned in the interview:

And here is Williams performing her song, “Time, Be My Friend” from her 2021 record, I’ll Meet You Here:

-Sari