Dar Williams Among Big Acts at Folkfest
BY JESSICA ROSENBERG

The Oberlin Folkfest, started two years ago by senior Ellen Stanley and Josh Ritter (OC ’99), is the perfect environment for folk: free, outdoors, low-key and friendly. And this year it has a headliner appropriate to its atmosphere in megahuge folk-pop star Dar Williams. 
Williams is arguably the world’s second-biggest woman-with- acoustic-guitar act and has gained fame and fortune while staying (mostly) true to her indie label folk aesthetic. She is touring behind her most recent album, The Green World, whose title is based on a theory from Shakespeare criticism.

(photo courtesy of darweb.com)

Williams kicked off her career on the traditional Massachusetts circuit and soon gained widespread acclaim for her second release on Razor and Tie records, Mortal City, still the best known of her albums. A gradual change in her style to slicker, more produced pop led many folk purists to claim she was selling out, but Williams insists “I need to make sure I’m Dar Williams first.”
Her lyrics have remained ambitious, treating personal and political subjects in storytelling mode. Williams’ music is an easy-listening mix of guitar, light pop instrumentation and warmly predictable soft sound. Her voice is reminiscent at times of Natalie Merchant’s without the rough edges. This is folk that should appeal to a wide audience lulled by the melodic hypnotism of smooth songs with something to say.
The weekend’s other headliner is in his own way even more famous than Williams. Richie Havens will play the Friday headlining slot, and his presence on campus ought to send waves of parents returning to their box of records for some nostalgia.
Havens was the opening act at the original Woodstock, and if that wasn’t big enough he also wrote the song “Freedom/Motherless Child” on the spur of the moment to fill a lull in the show. Havens was a central figure in the late 60’s/early 70’s folk scene. He is a phenomenal guitarist whom Bob Dylan complemented on his rendition of “All Along the Watchtower.” 
Although he’s getting along in years, his intensity hasn’t lessened, and he pours heart and soul into live shows that are filled with energetic strumming, humor and a scratchy, emotion-filled voice. His concerts combine classics from the 60’s like a stellar version of “Watchtower” with newer, more spiritual material. Havens brings a welcome dose of living legend to the Folkfest proceedings. 

The generations will meld with Friday’s performance by two thirds of The Roches along with Lucy Roche, an Oberlin sophomore. Suzzy and Maggie, Lucy’s mother and aunt respectively, will accompany Roche in a family set. The Roches are a model of explorative and entertaining folk who incorporate difficult vocal and musical structures into their layered compositions. 
Youth will also be represented in force by a number of other Oberlin acts including senior Bridget Matros, who will be playing her final Oberlin set. Brilliant song selection, superlative interpretation and innovative phrasing characterize her shows, which hang together with a kind of spit and chicken wire magic. Matros’s voice is truly her instrument and she uses it like hook and fishing line, gripping the audience by the throat and yanking them toward the stage. 
Among other OC folkies represented will be sophomore Jason Goss, first-year Erika Kulnys-Brain and first-year Eli Smith. The ’fest will also boast OC acts The Can Consortium, Brokedown Shack, Sabado Gigant and Present Company Excluded. 
Oh, and in addition one more Obie involved with the Folkfest is Josh Ritter (OC ’99). The Folkfest co-founder will return to play a set on Saturday. Ritter has an uncanny ability to match lyrics perfectly with music to form a polished, coherent whole much greater than the sum of its parts. 
His recordings remove the gravelly undercurrents that give his voice its character, but onstage he’s an experience. His connection with the audience is intense and personal, and his songs speak for themselves to create a true folk atmosphere. 
The Folkfest is on Tappan Square from 5 p.m. onward on Friday and from 12 p.m. onward on Saturday, and is free and open to the public.