Dar Williams is a critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter and musician. She is also the author of What I Found in a Thousand Towns.
"A must-read for aspiring songwriters or for anyone who has ever
listened to a song that matters to us."--QueerForty
"How to Write a Song That Matters is thick with advice,
ideas, prompts, and solid intro-to-music-theory education...
Indeed, permission and trust and taking thing step by step are
useful in all creative processes, whether someone is putting pen to
paper for the first time in this way, or whether someone is a
seasoned, professional songwriter whose time-tested process has
begun to feel monotonous. Both--and everyone in between--will find
incredibly useful guidance here."--Folk Alley
"Intended for songwriters of all levels and backgrounds, the book
combines tips, tools and encouragement that anyone can use to get
started with or to keep momentum alive in their creative process.
Dar Williams fans will also enjoy anecdotes and origin stories
about songs they know and love."--Broadway World
"How to Write a Song That Matters takes its place next to
Tweedy's, Gauthier's, and other books from respected roots
musicians as yet another approach to songwriting. Williams invites
readers into her reflections on songwriting and her own practices,
and she offers encouragement for taking risks with writing and with
exploring the many suggestions she makes for opening up the
mysteries of songwriting."--No Depression
"Williams smoothly describes the process of 'listening for cues and
clues' to discover the focus of the song... Even those with no
musical experience or aspirations will appreciate the author's
illumination of the mechanics of songcraft, and she is consistently
encouraging."--Kirkus
"Long ago on a hot, late summer night I was driving alone on a
beach road, the shadows of my headlights slicing the humid air
amidst a million bugs in V formation, while the local radio station
played a song called 'Are You Out There' by Dar Williams. It was
one of those startling, magical instances where the song I was
hearing made me feel more alive and less alone, the way the best
songs do. And I felt connected to something invisible and
mysterious--that whoever wrote that song knew what I was
feeling. When Dar and I became friends years later, that was the
first thing I wanted to share and to thank her for--for writing a
song that mattered to me. In this beautiful and wise book, she
explores how a song can matter in many different ways, to different
people, for different reasons. The wisdom and the lessons she
shares will illuminate not only the world of songwriters but anyone
who seeks the sustenance of a creative life and practice."
--Mary Chapin Carpenter, Grammy award-winning
singer-songwriter
"There are songs that have changed my life, described my life,
upped my life, saved my life. I wear those songs like charms on a
bracelet. Several of those charms were written by the glorious Dar
Williams. As Dar says in this gem of a book, How To Write A Song
That Matters, "When I hear a song that I love, something
catches and holds me the way gravity holds us to the ground." And
then she takes us deep into the process of creating a song (or a
poem, a book, a pot of soup) so that we too can offer others the
charms they need to ground their lives with meaning...a healing
charm, a power charm, a beauty charm. Thank you, Dar. I'll keep
coming back to this book for inspiration and
direction."--Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder, Omega Institute,
and author of bestselling books including Broken Open and Cassandra
Speaks
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