“It’s a highway, filled with deep, exotic colors and beautiful delicate things as well as the perils that come from moving so fast,” says Dar Williams, describing modern life.

On her 13th album, Hummingbird Highway, out September 12th, 2025 on Righteous Babe Records, Williams celebrates the colors she glimpses from her vantage as a touring musician. “I was a kid from the suburbs who listened when her hippie teachers said to get out in the world,” Williams muses.

Hummingbird Highway is the latest chapter in a richly unfolding story. Drawing on her experience as a playwright, Williams populates her latest album with nuanced characters that come alive in the space of a few minutes.

Since 2013, Williams has been leading songwriting workshops where she teaches students to let songs find their own trajectories. The musician, author (What I Found in a Thousand Towns, How To Write A Song That Matters) and mentor will start her Hummingbird Highway 2026 tour in New Jersey in early February and conclude it with a week long stint in the UK. Many notable towns and cites will be visited in between, including Chicago, Nashville, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boulder and NYC.

1. Hummingbird Highway [3:56]
2. All is Come Undone [4:42]
3. Tu Sais Le Printemps [3:48]
4. The Way I Go [4:37]
5. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight [3:20]
6. Sacred Mountain [4:32]
7. Maryland, Maryland [3:32]
8. Put the Coins on His Eyes [4:06]
9. What Bird Did You See [3:59]
10. Olive Tree [4:49]

As hummingbirds and folk singers fly, they gain perspective and not just distance, and so with this in mind, Dar opens her new album on the lightly-spirited title track Hummingbird Highway and the harmonious lush All is Come Undone, the Parisian-smooth, bossa nova imbibed Tu Sais Le Printemps, and then we get the strength of The Way I Go and the rambunctious countrified gem I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight.

Along next is the generously impassioned Sacred Mountain which is itself backed by the spirited rumble of Maryland, Maryland, the melodious Celtic-imbibed boatman lore within Put the Coins on His Eyes, the set rounding out on the dulcetly breathy, beautifully sculpted balladry of What Bird Did You See, closing all-too-soon on the effortlessly dreamy hipsway that comes threaded throughout Olive Tree.

Official Purchase Link

Dar Williams - Tu Sais Le Printemps (Official Lyric Video)