October 30, 2010, Saturday - Dar Williams at the Guthrie Theater

Time: 7:30pm 

Location:  Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, 818 South 2nd Street

Dar Williams’ sizable body of work forms a detailed look at the course of modern-day existence in the decade and a half between 1993, when Williams released her debut album, The Honesty Room, and 2008, when her longtime label Razor & Tie released her seventh and most recent studio album, Promised Land. Throughout her career, Williams has employed a reporter’s keen eye and a fiction writer’s feel for nuance in the act of confronting what she’s described as “the big picture of how people approach life.” Laden with intriguing narrative twists and vivid imagery, Many Great Companions is a two-CD set that generously and comprehensively pairs a career overview with the artist’s latest recording project. The first disc contains luminous, newly recorded acoustic performances of a dozen of Williams’ most sharply drawn and resonant songs; the second cherry-picks 19 of her classics. On the new tracks, Williams is joined by Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, who doubles as producer. Also making memorable appearances are Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek fame, fellow singer/songwriters Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Larkin, and the trio Motherlode.