The Cedar Presents
ROBIN and LINDA WILLIAMS with Maya de Vitry
Saturday, October 5, 2024 / Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM
All Ages
Seated
$30 Advance, $35 Day of Show
This is a seated show with general admission, first-come-first-served seating. The Cedar is happy to reserve seats for patrons who require special seating accommodations. To request access accommodations, please go to our Access page.
For Cedar presented shows, online ticket sales typically end one hour before the door time, and then, based on availability, tickets will be available at the door.
LISTEN
ABOUT THIS SHOW
In 1971, a young schoolteacher named Linda Hill was visiting her parents in South Carolina, when she met a musician named Robin Williams. She was a singer and played guitar. He was a regular on the coffeehouse circuit. The two hit it off immediately. Two years later, they were married and touring the country in a VW Bug.
They’ve been on the road ever since.
“…Among contemporary country performers, Robin and Linda Williams shine like a diamond amid rhinestones …” - The Boston Globe
ROBIN and LINDA WILLIAMS
No Depression magazine praises Robin and Linda Williams for creating “music that is both comfortable and thoughtful – a rare combination that explains why and how the Williamses are able to keep on an even keel while musical trends come and go. They don’t play at being country – they are country.”
It was music that brought them together. Linda, a Michigan school teacher, and Robin, a full time musician and a native of the Carolinas, met by chance at an open stage while visiting their parents in South Carolina. Their personal relationship blossomed immediately and within two years they discovered additional magic when they combined their voices in harmony and began their musical career during which they have logged several millions of miles in the continental US, and have toured Europe a number of times.
Their recording career started in Minneapolis, MN where Robin had made many friends and connections as a solo artist and they recorded their first three records for a local company there, establishing a recording template they have used their whole career: original tunes, songs by contemporary artists and time honored numbers from the Appalachian and blues traditions. It was at this time they made their first appearance on a little radio show just getting off the ground, called “A Prairie Home Companion,” starting a rich relationship with that icon of American broadcasting that continued for four decades.
” … Vocally and instrumentally, the Williamses combine impeccable musical discipline with a bare simplicity and an utter lack of pretension.”- Stephen Holden, The New York Times
From the very beginning they have spent their career crisscrossing the nation, establishing themselves as second-to-none live performers. They’ve played theaters, college coffeehouses, Carnegie Hall, hundreds of folk, bluegrass and country music clubs and festivals, the Grand Old Opry, Radio City Music Hall, Austin City Limits, community concerts, the Ryman Auditorium and Mountain Stage, their stirring concerts earning them a huge and loyal body of Folk and Country fans who love their honest and heartfelt music.
As live performers they are second to none. Their stirring concerts have earned them a huge body of fans over the years. But as gifted songwriters Robin and Linda have earned an even rarer honor, the devotion and deep respect of their musical peers. The list of artists who have covered their original songs include some of the greats of country music, names like Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, George Hamilton IV, Tim & Mollie O’Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea and The Seldom Scene.
They established fruitful relationships with five recording companies and have recorded twenty-three CDs to consistently positive reviews and audience acceptance. Their gospel CD, “Good News,” on Sugar Hill Records garnered two nominations for Gospel Album of the Year in 1995. They followed with “Sugar For Sugar” and “Company Of Strangers” both of which spent over fifteen weeks on the Americana Charts. 2002’s “Visions Of Love, “ produced by Garrison Keillor, received several rave reviews from national publications including a three star review in USA Today.
In 2004 they returned to Twin Cities' record company and signed with Red House Records. As of 2017 they released seven CDs, “Deeper Waters” (“nothing short of a masterpiece” – All Music Guide), “The First Christmas Gift “ (a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded, cliché-ridden field. . . ‘Shotgun Shells On A Christmas Tree’ will probably become a bluegrass standard.” – Washington Post), “Radio Songs” (“It doesn’t get any better than these two entwining their pure voices on a glowing, burnished Carter Family jewel.” – Music Row Magazine). “Buena Vista” (“Music and meaning are seamless, genuine, and first-rate, as we have come to expect from this gifted team.” – Dirty Linen), “Stonewall Country” (Robin and Linda handle all the lead vocals, and portray all of the different characters and moods, proving themselves to be wonderfully flexible singers – Oliver di Place), “These Old Dark Hills” (At a time when country music has misplaced its soul, hearing Robin and Linda Williams harmonize is like happening upon an artesian well as you’re about to die from thirst.” – Raleigh News and Observer) and “Back 40” (“. . the 14-tracks raced past me before I knew it, the stamp of a great record if there ever was one.” – FlyinShoes Review).
“…Robin and Linda Williams create music that is both comfortable and thoughtful – a rare combination that explains why and how the Williamses are able to keep on an even keel while musical trends come and go. They don’t play at being country – they are country.” - No Depression magazine.
Having come full circle and returning to performing as a duo, Robin and Linda continue to tour constantly. When not on the road they come back to their old frame house built around a log cabin in the heart of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley where they have lived for over forty years.
To learn more about Robin and Linda Williams:
Maya de Vitry
Nashville-based artist, songwriter, and producer Maya de Vitry is enjoying some hard-won creative flourishing."I’m not just making different music now. It feels like I'm breathing in a different atmosphere," she says, reflecting on her evolution from acclaimed roots-Americana band The Stray Birds to her current solo journey. Produced by Maya de Vitry and mixed by Grammy-award winning engineer Justin Francis (Madison Cunningham),The Only Moment (outJuly 12, 2024) is de Vitry’s 4th full-length record and is an unabashed blend of indie folk, indie rock, and indie pop, with elements of Americana and alt-country.
Originally from Lancaster, PA, de Vitry’s 2019 debut Adaptations earned accolades frommRolling Stone Country, NPR Music, and No Depression and she has since attracted an organic and devoted following on the strength of her recordings and her live performances. She sings with a magnetic and hard-won sense of purpose that has landed her support tours in North America and Europe for artists like The Wood Brothers, Aoife O’Donovan, John Craigie, and Mighty Poplar. Her songwriting appears on albums by Molly Tuttle,Lindsay Lou, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and Steve Poltz, and her versatility as a multi-instrumentalist and harmony singer has enriched numerous Nashville projects.
Despite her seemingly vigorous creative pace, the recording process for The Only Moment was unhurried. “It’s like I was making a long-exposure photograph, but with music,” she explains,having left the metaphorical shutter open for nearly three years to allow the songs themselves the opportunity to breathe. “I completely shelved this record for months at a time, on several occasions,” she recalls. “Each time I came back to it, I heard new possibilities. In today’s music industry, there’s pressure to share our process or turn it into ‘content’. But I treasured keeping this record to myself and slow-cooking these songs on the back burner.” The resulting album is a refreshing testament to the generative simmering that underpins periods of reinvention and growth.
“her voice is among the most ethereal and pure in roots music”– Glide Magazine
To learn more about Maya de Vitry:
