“We’re planning on removing our storage area in the main room to enlarge the seating area, but still maintain the intimate atmosphere,” explains John Howie, “But when Dar Williams calls, it’s very tough to say ‘no’.”

Add to the mix the fact that The Wire had been trying to book Williams for well over six months, and Howie’s decision was a no-brainer. “Dar uses the same booking agent as Dan Bern and Lucy Kaplansky (two Wire veterans) and we had been in contact with her booking agent quite a few times,” says Howie. “They had a show scheduled for somewhere outside of Philadelphia that fell through, so we were ecstatic when they called us.”

In folk circles, Dar Williams has been a rising star since January 1994 when she took her life savings and recorded The Honesty Room. Her literal imagery exposed a poignant honesty that mixed confessional tales of a sometimes-misguided suburbanite with an insight well beyond her years. A mere three months later, Williams began her first solo nationwide tour of java joints, house concerts and pass-the-hat places. By the end of April, The Honesty Room was released nationwide on Waterbug Records, and by the end of the year Williams had performed at the Newport Folk Festival, opened shows for Ani DiFranco and appeared on the syndicated radio programs Live at The World Cafe and E-Town.

While The Honesty Room flashed huge glimpses of potential, Williams’ follow-up in January 1996 bordered on genius. Recorded in the bedroom of her Western Massachusetts home, Mortal City’s expanded instrumentation exposed Williams to a much larger audience and broke through to commercial radio with “As Cool As I Am.” On top of that, a haunting duet with John Prine (“The Ocean”) and a nationwide tour with Joan Baez, introduced Williams to a large group older fans. Williams stayed on the road through 1996 and when all was said and done, Mortal City sold more than 50,000 copies for the tiny independent label, Razor and Tie.

Completing the hat-trick, Williams released The End of the Summer in July 1997 once again on Razor and Tie. By the end of the year, it had broke through Billboard’s Top 200 and became 1997’s highest independent release on the Radio and Records chart and the Gavin Report Adult Album Alternative chart. Along the way, Williams completed her most successful national tour to-date including sellout performances in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco. This summer, Williams is featured on a national tour with Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn and will make numerous appearances on the Lillith Tour and will play more intimate venues, like The Wire, as time permits. Her show at The Wire will feature a five-piece band.

“We are looking to attract more national acts and we are moving in that direction,” says Howie. “The Jonatha Brooke show opened several doors for us and this show will do the same thing. A lot of our exposure has been through word-of-mouth from our performers, and that helps an awful lot.”

The Dar Williams show is scheduled for Sunday, August 2, at 8 p.m. in the courtyard. at The Wire. In case of rain, an indoor site will be announced. Tickets are $20 and available at The Groove. For information call 774-1078.