The Honesty Room (CD - 1993)

Personnel: Dar Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mary Annis (spoken vocals); Adam Rothberg (acoustic & electric guitars, dobro, accordion, organ, xylophone, bass, congas); Mark Dann (guitar, bass); Max Cohen (guitar); Craig Eastman (mandolin, violin, viola); Rebecca Koehler (violin); Gideon Freudmann (cello); Tom McClung (piano); Rico Spence, Guy DeVito (bass); Dave Noonan, Dave Klock (drums); Jaime Morton, Linda Ridley, Judy Bauman (handclaps); Katryna Nields, Nerissa Nields (background vocals).

Producers: Dar Williams, Adam Rothberg, David Seitz, Brooks Williams .

Recorded at Shoestring Studio, Belchertown, Massachusetts; Wendell Recording Studio, Wendell, Massachusetts; Wellspring Studio, Newton, Massachusetts; Guy DeVito's Studio, Shutesbury, Massachusetts.

Composer: Dar Williams.

Personnel: Dar Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar); Adam Rothberg (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro, accordion, organ, xylophone, bass guitar, congas); Mark Dann (electric guitar); Craig Eastman (mandolin, violin, viola); Rebecca Koehler (violin); Gideon Freudmann (cello); Tom McClung (piano); Dave Noonan (drums); Jaimé Morton (hand claps).

Recording information: Shoestring Studio, Belchertown, MA.

Unknown Contributor Role: Mary Annis.

This, Dar Williams' first full-length album, was originally released on her own private label and was then picked up by the tiny but prestigious indie folk label Waterbug Records. In its Razor & Tie incarnation, The Honesty Room is a bit more rocked-up, which, frankly, has generally proven to be a good thing for the music of Dar Williams. Although she is a lyricist of striking originality and endearing humor, and although she can craft a hooky tune with the best of them, there's still a certain preciousness that creeps in when she's not being careful -- she has always sung with the light, fluttery consonants and flattened vowels that make so many of today's female singer/songwriters sound like 13-year-olds, and when that vocal approach combines with an unaccompanied acoustic guitar and lines like "Once upon a time there was a nuclear family," well, it's hard not to let your eyes roll. But on the other hand, when an all-out rock song combines a gorgeous singalong melody with lyrical references to Ronald Reagan and Sid Vicious in the very first line, you know you've stumbled across something very special, and you tend not to notice the quirks of delivery so much. And then there's "The Babysitter's Here," a song that manages to deal simultaneously with early childhood and incipient adulthood, and it will make you bawl every time you hear it. ~ Rick Anderson

Upon the release of this debut album, Massachusetts native Dar Williams quickly won comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. Such assessments are complimentary, but Williams doesn't take herself quite as seriously as those seminal soprano folksingers. Williams has a wicked sense of humor. She delivers her witty story-songs in a conversational manner, accompanying her clear, high voice with clean acoustic guitar. Sisters Katryna and Nerissa Nields provide backup vocals on several songs.

Williams is blessed with an excellent memory of her childhood experiences and with a vivid imagination. In "When I Was a Boy," she sings about her adolescence as if she had grown up male. This plaintive and introspective, yet subtly humorous, song typifies about half of the Williams oeuvre. The other half consists of fast-paced, overtly funny recollections and imaginings. "The Babysitter's Here" is a hilarious ode to a babysitter on whom Williams had a crush while growing up. But such is Williams' cleverness that one can never be too sure what is fact here and what is fiction. minimize