“Hummingbird Highway” (Righteous Babe) is the new album by beloved singer/songwriter, and longtime LGBTQ ally, Dar Williams.

Her first new studio recording in four years, “Hummingbird Highway” ranks with the best of her musical work, from “Mortal City” through “Promised Land.” An amazing and varied sonic experience, ranging from the contemporary Americana of the title track to the stunning pop of “All is Come Undone,” the jazzy bossa nova of “Tu Sais Le Printemps,” the raucous rockabilly of Williams cover of “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight,” and the exuberant “Maryland, Maryland,” this is a harmonic highway worth traveling repeatedly. Dar was gracious enough to make time for an interview shortly before the album’s release.

Your splendid new album, “Hummingbird Highway,” is being released on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records label. How did this come to be?

We were looking for a label. Even if Ani and I were as close as we are now in the ‘90s, I never would have asked about being on the label because you don't do that to your friends. You don't put them on the spot. But the truth is, she has this wonderful relationship with her label, where she has a lot of artistic control and a lot of artistic say, but at the same time, a lot of the business and the day-to-day is run by a handpicked, fabulous team. My team could reach out to her team and, in case it wasn't a fit; she and I didn't have to have an awkward conversation [laughs]. It's a very admired business team. But then, in my heart of hearts, I love everybody on the label. I love the ethos of the label, which is that we all kind of look out for each other, which is very much an echo of the music community that we're part of. The idea that I'm a part of something where we all sort of check in with each other in terms of how we can share some frequencies was also really appealing. It felt like a homecoming when we got the thumbs-up quickly that this was a fit. There's a part of me [laughs] that would like to say they're really good business people [laughs]. There's also Ani, and the love in the room, as people say. 

With the new record and new label comes, I dare say, a new Dar Williams. To my ears, you are doing things that feel super fresh, including the new single “Tu Sais Le Printemps,” which sounds like the jazziest tune you’ve ever written. Would you agree that, in some way, this album represents a new you?

No, it's the old me that's always worked with people, like Righteous Babe, who say, “Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. If you're writing a jazzy song or a blues song or a disco song.” I lead a songwriting retreat, and it's what I say to the retreaters. If you're starting a song, and it's interesting to you, and it's new territory, just keep exploring the new territory. That's something that I say to people creatively. The fact that I've been able to work with teams who encouraged me to do that professionally, at this point, it's a habit. I thought, “I'm writing a song. It's very bossa nova, and it’s in French. Let's see what happens!” Then it was all in French, and I was like, “Girl, you have high school French. This isn't working.” So, I just accented with French.

The rousing title song, “Hummingbird Highway,” features guest vocals by Amy Ray, and I love the way your voices complement each other. How did this collaboration come to pass?

I always heard her voice there. I also, frankly, wanted the voice of a friend who has  experienced all the excitement and ups and downs of a very fast-moving, beautiful career. Who also had a personal life. Down in Atlanta, there's a whole community of friends and family that I know about around the Indigo Girls. I know that she has this very rich personal life. She and I have seen each other in Montana. We toured together down the West Coast. She has her own band, and we did co-bills with her band in 2024 that were astoundingly 

Coast to coast.

Exactly, literally! She seemed to me to have the spirit of the song, and also her voice. We sang together on the road. Sometimes you can love a person, but the voices are not there. We were there, so I knew that would work.

You do have a lengthy history of recording with great guest vocalists, including Ani, Amy, Gail Ann Dorsey, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, Patty Larkin, Alison Krauss, and others. How do you choose your guest vocalists, and how do you know that they are the right ones for the song?

I do hear voices in my head, so as not to get too attached to one outcome or another. I hear a certain kind of voice in my head, and then I look at the Rolodex of friends and think, who will say “yes” [laughs]. I didn't know John Popper (of Blues Traveler), but we became friends because he sang and played harmonica on a song, and it was fantastic. I wrote to Shawn (Colvin) and said, “There's a voice that I'm hearing, of a person that I know, and I can ask this person, but I don't think that they would get it. I just want you. Is that OK?” She said, “Sure!” and she did it. Basically, you ask and hope that people say yes. And if they're busy, that's cool, too. But these are all friends, and I just thought they would get it, and that our voices would go, too.

You’re also known for including cover tunes such as “Whispering Pines,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Midnight Radio,” “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” and “Better Things.” The new album is no exception with the inclusion of Richard Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.” Why did you choose to cover that song? 

We have two versions of the song. Richard is a radical, from what I can tell. His heart is so huge, and he's so compassionate. But I have always heard “I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight” as a very tongue-in-cheek celebration of really crass consumerism [laughs]. To me, it has a very funny, couple of drunken nights, rolling on the floor. The chaos of going out on a Saturday night, and I need to spend money [laughs]. I thought it sounded like a raucous rockabilly song. I brought it in, and these guys…working with professional musicians, you toss a few names around of songs that you love that you think fit that, and they say, “How about this?” and the next thing you know, they dial it in. All of them knew how to dial it in. Rich Hinman has a lot of electric guitar things that he was able to infuse into the song. It was off and running pretty fast.

You also include more of your trademark “persona” songs. What can you tell the readers about “Maryland, Maryland,” for example?

(Congressman) Jamie Raskin is a friend of mine. They were retiring the Maryland state song because it's racist. He said, “This is great! Let's write a new state song. I'm gonna send you a list of all of the things I love about Maryland.” [Laughs] it was crazy! It was Obergefell (vs. Hodges), very difficult to rhyme, of course. Billie Holiday lived there, and also Rachel Carson. Jamie loves two historical figures deeply: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. So, Frederick Douglass had to be in there. The Freedom Train was very important to him. But then he was like, Cal Ripken…[laughs] and I couldn't do it. Then he wrote a song with the Labor Chorus, which was wonderful. It was beautiful and had many verses, like a sprawling, beautiful history of Maryland. I was like, “Jamie, I failed.” Then I thought, “Wait, what if I write a song about Jamie.” The line where it all came together was “Maryland was where I dreamed I’d be a force of good, for all.” Because his dream is to create a beautiful world for everybody. It's so much from the ethos of marching with his parents and marching with and knowing Thurgood Marshall. So, my Maryland song that I wrestled with for years became a Jamie song and wrote itself.

Does he love it?

He does! I don’t know if you've met him, but he's a very enthusiastic person. I could probably have written something really crap-o, and he would be pleased. He's just very positive.

Finally, you have also established yourself as an activist throughout your career, and we need activism now more than ever. What kinds of events have you been involved in, and what recommendations are you able to make to fans who also want to have their voices heard at this critical moment?

I was sitting down to write a song recently, and I felt so alive. I think feeling alive counts. My friend Fr. John Deare, he's one of those priests who gets arrested for pouring blood on torpedoes…

…you thanked him in the liner notes.

Yes! I love him and he's very dear friend. He has a podcast called “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast.” He had a woman (on) named Michelle Dunn, who's part of the lay Franciscan order. They were talking about why we go to protests, why we show up. She said, “It's about doors.” You show up and you feel the community around you. You feel the energy of your beliefs and your cause. Then you see the next door. Maybe the next door is you go home and start a letter writing group or the next door is running for office. By showing up together, it shows us the next door. I think that explained to me why sitting down to write a song and feeling so alive and feeling what it is to be alive on a living planet, shows me the next door. When I lead the songwriting retreat, it's a very safe space for a lot of different kinds of lives that we live. Being together, writing songs together, lets us be alive and creative together. A lot of people, I felt, could see the next door, which is feeling that support and love, and maybe taking that to the streets. I've always been a person who believes that the music is the thing for a lot of people. But gathering to create and make music together or experience music together is also a lever of social progress. 

Because you're in a place with harmony and softened hearts and the strength of your human beliefs. I'm an advocate for that on any level, even if you're singing the French song, which I wrote in the middle of a really terrible time politically. (Singer/songwriter) Beth Nielsen Chapman said, “I would love nothing more than a sentimental bossa nova French song about the blush of the moon. Do it, do it! [laughs].” 

I love songs with messages that we can bring into our politics. I don't call them political songs, but they speak to the human scale and the human order. They critique these human creations of war and government within the political realm. I think that’s a wonderful education for young people, to see the human element in society. Feel alive, be alive, feel strong in the love around you, and then look for the next door. I think music is a way that we remind ourselves to look for and then find the next door.