Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams has announced a US winter headline tour behind her critically acclaimed new album, Acadia. The dates begin with four shows in California in December, before picking back up on the East Coast in February with shows in Baltimore, NYC, Northampton, Philadelphia, and more. Williams also plays Pitchfork Music Festival in London in November and Brandi Carlile's Girls Just Wanna Weekend in Mexico in January. 

Composer and guitarist Yasmin Williams's new album, Acadia, is out today. The album, her Nonesuch debut and her most sonically expansive work to date, comprises nine original, mostly instrumental, tracks written and produced by Williams, and features her on various guitars, banjo, calabash drum, tap shoes, and kora. Williams is joined on the album by an eclectic cast of collaborators—including Immanuel Wilkins on saxophone, Dom Flemons on rhythm bones, Aoife O’Donovan on vocals, William Tyler on guitar, and many others—creating a folk music that reflects the wide range of musical influences that have inspired her throughout her life.

Composer and guitarist Yasmin Williams has released “Hummingbird,” a track from her new album, Acadia, due October 4. “Hummingbird” features Allison de Groot on banjo and Tatiana Hargreaves on fiddle, a duo whose instrumentals “mesmerize in the most splendid manner,” per No Depression; you can watch a music video for the song here. Williams brings her new music to the Kennedy Center in DC and the Evanston Folk Festival in Illinois this weekend; she embarks on a fall North American tour with Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka later this month and plays London’s Pitchfork Music Festival in November.

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams returns to Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions podcast to talk with host Jason P. Woodbury about her upcoming Nonesuch debut album, Acadia. "It's beautiful—a showcase for a one-of-a-kind artist. And while the focus remains Williams' fluid and lyrical guitar work, she's joined by a roster of ringers to help fill out the corners," says the show. You can hear their conversation here.

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. She chose recordings by Makaya McCraven, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tigran Hamasyan, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Sam Amidon.

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams's Nonesuch debut album, Acadia, is due October 4. The album, her most sonically expansive to date, is nine original, mostly instrumental tracks written and produced by Williams, with her on various guitars, banjo, calabash drum, tap shoes, and kora. She is joined by an eclectic cast of collaborators—including Immanuel Wilkins, Dom Flemons, Aoife O’Donovan, William Tyler, Darlingside, and others—creating a folk music that reflects the wide range of musical influences that have inspired her throughout her life. Album tracks “Virga” and "Dawning" can be heard now. Williams tours North America with Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka this fall and plays London's Pitchfork Music Festival. "Yasmin Williams treats her guitar like a playground," says NPR Music, noting the “joy and possibility she brings to the guitar.” Songlines calls her “an original, a genuine trailblazer, one of those rare musicians who challenges your preconceptions about the possible.”

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams—whose first song on Nonesuch, "Dawning," was released late last year ahead of her label debut album, due later this year—will support Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka on their North American fall tour. The shows begin at The Met in Philadelphia on September 29, and include stops in Boston, New York, Saint Paul, Denver, Boise, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and more.

The 2024 Big Ears Festival is next week, taking place in venues throughout downtown Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, with more than a dozen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future performing as part of the label's 60th anniversary celebrations. In addition to all of the music and film offerings, Big Ears also hosts a number of artist conversations with music journalists Ann Powers and Nate Chinen, including talks with Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Brad Mehldau, Davóne Tines, and Yasmin Williams.

As part of Nonesuch Records's 60th anniversary celebrations, the 2024 Big Ears Festival lineup includes fifteen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future. Ahead of the festival, taking place in Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, we've got a playlist of music from all of those artists: Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Tyondai Braxton, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, Ringdown (Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee), Davóne Tines, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and Yasmin Williams. You can hear it here via Spotify and Apple Music.

"As hypnotic as anything she’s written, 'Dawning' is a revelation," Rob Thormeyer says of the new song from guitarist/composer Yasmin Williams, his guest on the latest episode of his For Songs podcast. "It signals a re-awakening of life after a catastrophic pandemic, new love, hope, and, well, pretty much whatever you want." The track—featuring Aoife O’Donovan on vocals, Kafari on rhythm bones, and Nic Gareiss’ percussive dancing—provides an early peek at her Nonesuch debut album, due in 2024 (details to come). You can hear their conversation here.

“‘Dawning’ has multiple meanings for me,” composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams says of her first song on Nonesuch, out today, which features Aoife O’Donovan on vocals, Kafari on rhythm bones, and Nic Gareiss’ percussive dancing and provides an early peek at her new album, which the label will release in early 2024: “the dawning of my professional music career and a new love in my personal life, the dawning sky that appeared when I first started writing this song, and me smiling to myself with dawning recognition that I get to create music that I love for a living and share it with the world. This song represents a major shift in how I approach my music and expands the possibilities of what my songs can be.”