Cris Williamson

• Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

The iconic lesbian singer-songwriter, recording artist, activist,  and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Cris Williamson releases 33rd album, Harbor Street.

Williamson’s iconic 1974 album, The Changer and the Changed, featuring groundbreaking songs about same-sex love, became one of the best-selling independent releases of all time.  —Ann Powers/NPR Music Critic

Seattle, WA — Born out of the solitude of mandated isolation, women’s music pioneer Cris Williamson emerges with 12 original new songs for her latest album, Harbor Street, out today through Wolf Moon Records. Produced by Williamson, with loving guidance from Windham Hill recording artist Barbara Higbie, these are folk songs, but also pop songs and ballads, all informed by the resident musical language that has long been a part of her repertoire.

Cris explains: “Folk music. I first learned of it when I was but a girl. Such songs as “Silver Dagger” and “Banks of the Ohio” usually involved either a murder of a woman, or a love triangle, or a handsome and faithless gambler, or some such. Always sad… always beautiful. And, there is usually a white dove who mirrors the sadness, and sings of it as she flies.”

Safely placed between now-familiar pandemic surges, Williamson ventured from the safety and solace of her home in Seattle to record with engineer David Luke at Opus Studio in Berkeley CA. Local East Bay musicians Laurie Lewis (violin, vocals) Vicki Randle (acoustic guitar), Scott Amendola (drums), Dewayne Pate(bass), James Deprato (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, dobro), Mia Pixley (cello), Julie Wolf (accordion) and Barbara Higbie (violin, piano, vocals) bring friendship, depth and flavor to this sometimes serious, always hopeful — as is Williamson’s signature way — to this collection.

“We are living in critical times. Anxieties ripple through us. Life is precarious. We are at risk. I suppose, in a way, this has always been true. But, our awareness is sharper…there is trouble in the wind. And so, we look for ways to stay alive, to keep hope high in our hearts, to stay together, to somehow find our way to Love… the real reason we are all here.”