Dar Williams - Hummingbird Highway (2025)

"Hummingbird Highway," the title track of Dar Williams' 13th album, was inspired by a romantically-named road that runs along the Maya Mountains of Belize—and a partly imagined story about a child whose parent brings gifts back from work trips as an attempt to make up for lost time. "Sometimes you go away in a car. Sometimes you go away with your door closed," Williams has said. "I've been the child and the parent." She sings with rich detail about what the kid sees: "You're laying out the treasures you brought for me/ Cinnamon bark from a cinnamon tree/ And a stone that you saw/ Clear at the bottom of the sea." This is joyous Americana, its fleet rhythm like the flap of a hummingbird's wings, but with an emotional tug as the young narrator also recognizes their parent's guilt for needing to be in two places at the same time. "You say it's the older you feel, it's the older I get," she sings. "Your highest of highs and your deepest regret."

There is nothing simple about Williams' songs, which find her sounding absolutely great here. Hypnotic with hand drums, "Olive Tree" weaves in Aristotle abandoning Plato's academy and Berkeley scientists planting the Mediterranean trees in California dirt—all as a way to encourage modern democracy. "Maryland, Maryland," a gentle folk shuffle, celebrates the seventh state's Appalachian range, harbors and urban streets to honor U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin's dream of being a "force of good for all." Bluegrass-leaning "Put the Coins on His Eyes"—alive with churning fiddle and awe-inspiring harmonies from Rani Arbo and the band Daisy Mayhem—references FDR's Wagner Act and marching for workers' rights. Mystical but muscular, "Sacred Mountain" spins the story of a Buddhist drawn to political activism. But even Williams needs a break sometimes. Retro-sounding "Tu Sais Le Printemps" is a little jazzy, a little bossa-nova, a little French-flavored. She has called it her "frilly" song, meant to be a distraction from the stresses of the world. It's a fun surprise, and so is a speedy cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," reimagined as a honky-tonker that loses some of the original's grooviness but keeps the jolly horn parts. © Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist
1. Hummingbird Highway (3:57)
2. All is Come Undone (4:43)
3. Tu Sais Le Printemps (3:48)
4. The Way I Go (4:38)
5. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (3:21)
6. Sacred Mountain (4:33)
7. Maryland, Maryland (3:32)
8. Put the Coins on His Eyes (4:07)
9. What Bird Did You See (3:59)
10. Olive Tree (4:50)