Yasmin Williams & Joseph Allred

The Singletary Center for the Arts presents guitarists Yasmin Williams and Joseph Allred in the SCFA Recital Hall.

Yasmin Williams grew up in the Northern Virginia town of Woodbridge in a family with a deep reverence for music. They’d harmonize together on car rides, with Yasmin handling the highest parts. Her listening broadened while earning a degree in music theory and composition at NYU. It was there that she began to explore nontraditional approaches to the acoustic guitar, developing a fingerstyle technique with the instrument resting on her lap. She’s recorded three full-length albums: her debut Unwind (2018), Urban Driftwood (2021), and Acadia (2024) — and used each to expand her array of sound tools and techniques. She sometimes positions her kalimba, the African thumb piano, atop the guitar so she can play both at once. She also plays kora, harp guitar, doubleneck guitar, banjo, and percussion instruments.

 “Williams is one of the country’s most imaginative young solo guitarists." -Grayson Haver Currin, The New York Times

There’s more than one mountain to climb in American Primitive guitar territory, and Joseph Allred favors the holy one. Like Robbie Basho, he totes a 12-string guitar, augments his playing with other instruments and some line-in-the-sand singing, and uses his music to convey mystical and nature-dazzled themes. But he’s no copycat. Instead of feverish exaltation and slack-jawed awe, he expresses humility and a more measurable appreciation for his subjects.