★★★★★
The first disc, however, is where Williams makes Many Great Companions something new. It is filled acoustic reimaginings of fan favorites, featuring guest spots from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek. Twelve songs, spanning six albums, get a new take under the eye of The Jayhawks' Gary Louris, who produced the album...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
New York pop folkstress Williams' ninth album is arguably her most ambitious to date, a collection of songs using Greek mythology as their starting point. Studying the gods of the Parthenon, she set out to see if parallels could be drawn between ancient tales and very real 21st-century concerns. It's most powerfully evocative on You Will Ride With Me Tonight, which she describes as a modern day biker lament inspired my Hermes, the god of travellers and thieves...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
As its title implies, this loose concept album uses Greek mythology as a lyrical backdrop for folksinger Williams to explore introspective and social issues. The concept never seems forced since the predominantly ballad melodies, Williams' lovely voice, and Kevin Killen's sympathetic production keep everything shimmering and mysterious...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2012-04-26
★★★★★
Having spent the better part of the last decade balancing her populist moral sense and her wry brand of humor with her love of catchy pop music, Dar Williams returns to the hyper-literate, folksinger style of her earliest albums on In the Time of Gods. If the album isn't a full-on retreat back to the coffeehouse, it's easily the singer-songwriter's most traditional folk-leaning and least accessible work since 2000's The Green World...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2012-04-23
★★★★★
Razor & Tie With 2010's Many Great Companions, Dar Williams put a ribbon and a bow on one phase of her career, repackaging favorite tracks and newly recording others, and In the Time of Gods gives off an undeniable sense of new beginnings. While Williams' writing and performing style hasn't significantly altered--she's still a classic wordsmith brandishing guitar--there is replenishment and urgency to these songs...
- www.relix.com
2012-04-19
★★★★★
For an album that, in the words of its creator, boasts "an epic setting" and that draws upon Greek mythology in order to explore contemporary political, social and moral issues, Dar Williams's In the Time of Gods strikes as a decidedly modest, low-key listening experience overall. No towering, large-scale American Doll Posse-esque opus, this (disappointing, perhaps, for those of us who were kind of hoping to see Dar don a selection of wigs and outfits for this venture)...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-04-19
★★★★★
Dorothy Snowden Williams has enjoyed an unfussy but busy career in the country-folk world in the 20 years since the release of her first record, never quite crossing over to mass appeal but earning the unwavering respect of her contemporaries. A lyricist of formidable articulacy and invention, with more than a passing debt to the verbal dexterity of Joni Mitchell, this two-disc set is the perfect introduction to her humble brilliance...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-01-03
★★★★★
Saddled with an unattractive album cover and an off-putting opening song, folk singer-songwriter Dar Williams nonetheless fruitfully explorers her better self as she continues to move beyond her folk roots into edgier musical territory...
- www.the-trades.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
Folk singers rarely go for a "greatest hits" compilation, but not many folk singers have a catalogue as rich as Dar Williams's. On Many Great Companions, Williams showcases both her uncommon consistency as a singer-songwriter and an impressive list of collaborators...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2010-10-18
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