Guitarist/composer Yasmin Williams stopped by the NPR offices in Washington, DC, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert of songs from her new album, Acadia, and more. "Williams is a fingerstyle guitarist who taps, slaps and slides up and down the fretboard of her instrument with a commanding sense of scenery that flickers between the strings," says NPR's Lars Gotrich. "Storytellers build worlds; at the Tiny Desk, Williams invites us into hers." You can watch it here.
Guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams and her band stopped by the NPR offices in Washington, DC, while on tour to perform a Tiny Desk Concert for the NPR and NPR Music staff. "Yasmin Williams is a fingerstyle guitarist who taps, slaps and slides up and down the fretboard of her instrument with a commanding sense of scenery that flickers between the strings," says NPR's Lars Gotrich. "Storytellers build worlds; at the Tiny Desk, Williams invites us into hers." The set includes two songs from her acclaimed 2024 Nonesuch debut album, Acadia—"Hummingbird" and "Sisters"—as well as earlier tunes "Guitka" and "Restless Heart." You can watch it here:
"As metaphors go, the mountaintop feels fitting for this moment in Yasmin Williams' career," writes the Washington Post's Chris Richards in a cover feature in today's Weekend section of the paper. "Back in October ... she released her sumptuous third album, Acadia, attracting a widening listenership to her highly inventive, largely unorthodox, totally alive style of music making." You can read the article here.
Acadia, Williams's most sonically expansive work to date, is nine original, mostly instrumental tracks written and produced by Williams, and features 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. You can get it and hear it here.
Williams continues her Acadia tour at the Birchmere in her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, tonight and at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on Saturday. For details and tickets, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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