I was raised by parents who really admired the religious leaders of the left, as many 60s and 70s liberals did.

What we need to do is pull the rug out so billionaires in our country wake up one morning and say, wow, 80 percent of the country has a solar panel, and we can't make our billions anymore because other people are making millions, but not billions, on alternative energy that doesn't require war. Suddenly, the war-making machinery is not necessary.

Mortal City was really influenced by geography. [The song] "The Ocean" is the Pacific Northwest. Southern California and New York also figure into songs, and Iowa. "February" is very much about New England. "Mortal City" is Philadelphia. The whole album is this anthropomorphized landscape where the metaphors live in this geography.

Sixties folk rock was my original muse and the folk audience-people who listen to music off the beaten track-fostered my career. I definitely don't want to abandon the genre but I also need to make sure I'm Dar Williams first.

If you're looking for can-do, earthy-crunchy attitude then you've got to go to Wisconsin.

But if you're looking to be spooked by really tall trees then you've got to go to Washington State.

Sometimes life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging.