Culture

Yasmin Williams – 2024 NMF Sycamore Sessions

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NELSONVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – The audience gathered under the shady canopy of the trees as Yasmin Williams took to the Creekside stage in the late afternoon on Saturday at the 2024 Nelsonville Music Festival. Williams welcomed them warmly and kicked  her set off with an older favorite of hers Juvenescence. With her guitar laid out across her lap, she began plucking and tapping out melodies that seemed as natural as breathing. The crowd eases at her presence and the complex, unique sound she’s able to create on her own.

She shares a sweet anecdote about her beginnings as a guitarist, recalling the first time she discovered her love for the instrument. It all started with Guitar Hero, she would lay the controller out across her lap as she has her guitar now, and that’s how she played the game. Fast forward to the present, she’s incorporated other aspects to her performance like foot tapping alongside her guitar playing making her presence on stage even more captivating.

As she moves through her set she stops every so often to talk to the crowd about the meaning behind each song, earning a chuckle and a knowing nod here and there from audience members. She shares exciting news about a new album of hers coming out very soon after the festival. The connection and excitement shared between the audience and Williams is palpable. With the set drawing to a close, the final notes of her song Restless Heart echoed through the grove and the audience rose to a standing ovation.

SET LIST 
1. Juvenescence – 0:32
2. Cliffwalk – 4:42
3. Hummingbird – 10:44
4. Through the Woods – 17:00
5. On a Friday Night – 23:16
6. High Five – 28:00
7. Guitka – 31:50
8. Restless Heart – 36:05
Yasmin Williams performs at the 2024 Nelsonville Music Festival.
Yasmin Williams. (Henry Day I WOUB)
The Sycamore Sessions are presented by the Nelsonville Music Festival in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication’s School of Media Arts and Studies. The videos are produced by Media Arts and Studies students under the guidance of Director Andie Walla, Host Josh Antonuccio, WOUB Producers Nathan Cain and Emily Votaw, and personnel from Stuart’s Opera House and the Nelsonville Music Festival. All performances took place during the 2024 Nelsonville Music Festival, which is a production of Stuart’s Opera House.