While many singer/songwriters suffer from stage fright, I think anyone's confidence level would rise if Joan Baez decided to sing and record some of that musician's songs. That's what happened to Dar (short for Dorothy) Williams early in her career after she got a gig as opening act for Baez. Since then Williams has recorded 10 albums, toured extensively at coffeehouses and concert halls, and cracked minds wide open with her outspoken beliefs on American politics, the disillusionment and apathy of youth, and the female experience. This is especially true of her latest album, titled My Better Self. Despite the autobiographical sounding name, Williams is not a fan of self-centered lyrics. Instead she says that she prefers to write for and about other people.



"I'm thinking about where we are right now in history," Williams says. "A common theme to this record is that the songs all put stuff I find important out on the table."



In one particularly insightful song, called "Echoes," she sings, "Every time you open to kindness, make one connection used to divide us, it echoes all over the world."



Williams does more than pay lip service to this idea. She also organized a charity campaign titled the "Echoes Initiative," in which she promotes small community organizations in some of the cities she performs in to inform those audiences about the work the charity contributes to their community. Ah, that's so nice! And I bet it's a lot of extra homework too.



No word on whether or not Williams has been sleuthing around to discover any of our nonprofit gems, but she sure is going to put on one heck of a concert at the Rialto Theater, and her beautiful and soothing voice, pop/acoustic/folk music and world renowned songwriting is more than enough.



[Rialto Theater, 7:30 p.m., $29.50, 310 S. Ninth St., downtown Tacoma, 253.591.5894]