NEM#251: Dr. Alan Williams (Birdsong at Morning)

After studying at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, Alan released two albums with folk-rock band Knots and Crosses in the early 90s, put out one solo album in 1994, then became a freelance recording engineer and earned a PhD in ethnomusicology. He released three albums between 2010-2019 fronting Birdsong at Morning and released two more solo albums. We discuss “Just Like Water” (and listen at the end to “Somewhere There’s a Train”) from Floating on the Dreamline (2026), “The Great Escape” by Birdsong at Morning from A Slight Departure (2015), and the title track to Curve of the Earth (1993) by Knots and Crosses (co-written with guitarist Rick Harris). Intro: “Neon Dreaming,” from Evidence Unearthed (2020), which is just a re-sung and remixed version of the track from Evidence (1994). More at alanwilliamsevidence.com . Sponsor: Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/nem. Hear all of “Neon Dreaming.” Watch the video for “Somewhere There’s a Train.” And here’s a sort of a color collage video for “Just Like Water.” He’s got several videos from the songs from his previous album on his YouTube channel ; this also features some of the work he’s led with his students at U. Mass Lowell (including a King Crimson ensemble !). Watch the video for “The Great Escape. ” Watch my favorite Birdsong at Morning song live . Alan has also does some interesting (and generally very slow) cover tunes: “ Love You To ” (George Harrison/Beatles), “ The Logical Song ” (Supertramp), “ Matte Kudasai ” (King Crimson). And here’s Knots and Crosses playing “Walking on a Wire ” (Richard and Linda Thompson) pretty faithfully. Alan mentions (as an inspiration for “Just Like Water”) the XTC song “ Love on a Farmboy’s Wages .” Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com . Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic .

You can listen to NEM#251: Dr. Alan Williams (Birdsong at Morning) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

NEM#251: Dr. Alan Williams (Birdsong at Morning) is an episode from Nakedly Examined Music Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer.

This episode is 1:35:23 long.

This episode was published on Apr 24, 2026.

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