Dar Williams with Joy Clark

On her 13th album, Hummingbird Highway, Williams celebrates the colors she glimpses from her vantage as a touring musician. 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.

Since 2013, Williams has been leading songwriting workshops where she teaches students to let songs find their own trajectories. While writing the breezy bossa nova “Tu Sais Le Printemps,” Williams questioned why she was writing a light, flirty song amidst many gloomy news stories. With help from Williams’ collaborators, the other songs found their paths as well.

Williams sees and breathes the way people connect with one another, as chronicled in what she calls her “take on urban planning,” What I Found in a Thousand Towns (Basic Books, 2017). Along the way, she’s seen the devotion of strong unions (as in “Put the Coins On His Eyes”) and congressional reps alike. “Maryland, Maryland” was inspired by conversations with her friend, Rep. Jamie Raskin, about what a new state song would include.

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.