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Dar Williams: Time, Tides And Empty Spaces

When Dar Williams got to work on her new album, Promised Land, she drew inspiration from many sources, including art museums, the Milgram social psychology experiments and her college friend, Stephen Trask. She says that getting older has helped her gain perspective.

"I know that I need to take the time to structure my life to create the empty spaces, so every story really has its due," she says.

Williams says she knew she needed "to clear out all this space to write these songs." For inspiration, she visited art museums such as Dia:Beacon, Storm King Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art, all in New York. "I wanted a production that would help bring these very separate little songs that had come out of the space that I had given them," she says. "I wanted that kind of production to be parallel."

When asked about her song "The Tide Falls Away," Williams praises the perks of aging and offers advice to young people.

"Make the mess now, because the tide will fall back, and you'll have this amazing perspective, and you'll have a lot of material to sort through," she says. "You'll understand that maybe you should have let a few things go by the wayside during your life, because you really want to hold on to the love that you had. So, yes, perspective will happen, and it will really be a reward for all of this mess that you're slogging through right now."

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The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.