Yasmin Williams at The Iron Horse on Thursday, April 1 2027

Presented by the UMass Fine Arts Center

Guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams makes roots music with an almost uncanny ability to evoke the feeling of wide-open spaces. Her pieces draw on deft fingerpicking, a compositional style that entreats the listener to experience every note, and sense of resonance best described as spiritual. Williams’s works conjure images of quiet country roads that wind over rolling hills and through verdant valleys. Her songs cut across the breadth of American folk forms, here exploring their African and European origins, there visiting birthplaces that stretch through Appalachia and southward to the Mississippi delta.

Williams, who hails from Woodbridge, Virginia grew up surrounded by music. She was drawn in particular to the work of such innovative guitarists as Chuck Brown and Jimi Hendrix. She began developing her fingerstyle acoustic guitar technique while studying music theory and composition at NYU, and went on to add kalimba, kora, harp-guitar, and banjo to her constellation of instruments. Williams third album, 2024’s I, presents a suite of songs performed with collaborators ranging from Allison de Groot and Aoife O’Donovan to Malick Koly and Immanuel Wilkins grouped into three sections that move from airy country folk to soaring, jazz-inflected experimentation. Take this opportunity to see her in the intimate setting of a world-famous folk club while you still can.