For the summer of 2012, singer Dar Williams will visit summer camps in Michigan to perform and plant bee-friendly gardens during her current tour. Last year she did it in New England and so she is looking for four or five camps for her second annual tour.
She says:
For years now, audience members have been telling me about how they first heard my songs around campfires, at a camp assembly, at bedtime, or, occasionally, tied to a tree by a counselor who was trying to deprogram an internal iPod program of all Britney Spears. Don't get me wrong: I love Britney Spears, but my songs are easier to play and sing, therefore easier for YOU to play and perform (important to me) and, well, Britney never sang about her babysitter. I can see why those counselors took extreme measures. I'd love to see these wonderful camps, and their campers and counselors, about which I've gotten quite an earful over the years.
You can hear about last year's camps and bee-friendly gardens at her blog.
Here's an interview with Dar about her latest album, In the Time of Gods
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| Dar, not in summer camp mode |
The final song on In the Time of Gods manages to bring all of her concerns-social, creative, and personal-under one roof. “We have a mountain close to our house called Storm King,” says Williams. “When a circle of clouds gathers around the top of it, that means the rain is coming. Pete Seeger lives across the river and can see the mountain, and I wrote a song saying that Pete is the storm king now. He looks down and watches over us, guides and warns us, like the mountain does.
“So my ‘Storm King’ is not a king of Greek mythology,” Williams continues. “He’s a father figure who influences me from two miles up the road, where he composts and chops his own wood, and reminds me of my responsibilities. ‘Storm King’ is my way of saying that we aren’t living in 400 BC Greece, we are evolving in time. And that’s what you’re allowed to do with mythology-to let it evolve and show who your Parthenon is now.”
Music by Dar Williams
