New England treasure Dar Williams performs in a fall concert at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, located at 804 Washington Street in Bath, on Friday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. 

Williams has roughly a dozen full releases in her catalog (not counting EPs and singles), starting with her 1990s cassette-only release, I Have No History. The folk-pop artist’s intensely personal style of storytelling evokes vivid characters and the conundrums of the human condition with empathy, insight, humor and occasional doses of pain and pathos.

 Having recorded, performed and toured with artists like Joan Baez, Loudon Wainwright, Ani DiFranco, John Prine and Shawn Colvin, Williams’ arc as a performer has been sustained by an adventurous and unafraid musical spirit, one fueled by pushing boundaries.

Tracks from her last LP, Emerald, featured collaborations with the Milk Carton Kids, Jill Sobule, Jim Lauderdale and even Richard Thompson. The sunny song “Johnny Appleseed,” was penned by Joe Strummer’s post-Clash band The Mescaleros, and is performed with The Hooters on board as Williams’ backing band. The hushed, intimate closing track, “New York is a Harbor,” recalls the incomparable Joni Mitchell. 

As interested in environmental and social causes as she is in music, Williams has taken time between musical projects and touring to talk to kids about pollinator gardens and the importance of bees. Whether she’s providing music for a documentary on a girls’ orphanage in Honduras, singing about her own earlier battles with depression, or touting the significance of little winged insects, Williams certainly has a huge arsenal of tools from which to pull while she’s healing the world in small steps, in her own personal way.

Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door and available by calling 207-442-8455 or purchase online www.chocolatechurcharts.org.