[Cover photo by Carly Rae Brunnalt]

Singer/songwriter Dar Williams will be releasing her 13th album, Hummingbird Highway, on September 12th, 2025, on Righteous Babe Records. On it, Williams celebrates her vantage as a touring musician.

She says:

I was a kid from the suburbs who listened when her hippie teachers said to get out in the world.

For Hummingbird Highway, Williams draws on her experience as a playwright to create memorable characters.

On the title track, out now, Williams sings from the perspective of a child speaking to her sometimes struggling parent. Longtime friend Amy Ray provides backing vocals on the song.

Since 2013, Williams has been leading songwriting workshops where she “teaches students to let songs find their own trajectories.”

The album was mainly produced by Ken Rich at Brooklyn’s Grand Street recording, with two tracks produced by Dave Chalfant in Western Massachusetts.

Williams shares about her songwriting:

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.