Congratulations to Yasmin Williams, who has won the International Folk Music Awards' Rising Tide Award, which "celebrates emerging artists who inspire others by embodying the values and ideals of the folk community through their work." The composer/guitarist's "inventive finger-style approach ... has expanded the instrument’s expressive possibilities," reads the Folk Alliance International citation. "Through her boundary-pushing artistry and principled activism, Yasmin Williams stands as one of contemporary music’s most visionary and courageous voices, fully embodying the values and ideals of the folk community." The IFMAs will be presented at the 38th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans on January 21, 2026. For the complete list of nominees and awards recipients, visit folk.org.

Williams' Nonesuch debut album, Acadia, released in 2024, is her most sonically expansive work to date. It comprises nine original, mostly instrumental tracks written and produced by Williams, and features her on various guitars, banjo, calabash drum, tap shoes, and kora. She is joined by an eclectic cast of collaborators—including Immanuel Wilkins, Dom Flemons, Aoife O’Donovan, William Tyler, Darlingside, and others—creating a folk music that reflects the wide range of musical influences that have inspired her throughout her life. "Yasmin Williams treats her guitar like a playground," says NPR Music, naming her its Breakthrough Artist of 2021, noting the “joy and possibility she brings to the guitar.” Songlines calls her “an original, a genuine trailblazer, one of those rare musicians who challenges your preconceptions about the possible.” You can get the album and hear it here.

Yasmin Williams takes her tour to the West Coast in December, performing in Berkeley, Portland, and Seattle. For all the latest, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.