Razor & Tie

Reinventing well-known songs is something akin to walking a balance beam. Tip one way and a song is unrecognizable. Lean the other way and it’s a retread. Only a few reworked tunes that have just the right symmetry. Dar Williams is one of the few to pull off the feat with her two-disc set. Although she brings an all-star guest list to the album – including Patty Larkin and Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek – the real magic is found in some of the arrangements. Consider the sparse instrumentation on “Spring Street” that allows her haunting voice to fully reflect the heart-tugging lyrics. Likewise, the arrangement on “The One Who Knows” allows Williams’ and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s voices to swirl into one smooth delicacy. Although variety is welcome, Williams shows us that less is often much more.