Crying to Be Heard

When Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell discussed doing an album of their favorite folk songs, they weren’t talking about stuff by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny or Phil Ochs. Nope, these East Coast singer-songwriters shared a vision of an entirely different sort.

Their idea was to draw attention to songs by lesser-known but equally deserving folkies. That idea blossomed into the 12-song album “Cry Cry Cry,” released in October on the New York-based indie-label Razor & Tie.

The wide-ranging collection features compositions by, among others, the relatively obscure James Keelaghan, Buddy Mondlock, Jim Armenti, Nerissa Nields, Julie Miller, Greg Brown and Leslie Smith--the latter a homemaker and part-time musician from Pittsburgh.

“We just wanted to record songs we all love, but I think there’s always a desire to give people who are not as well-known a leg up,” Shindell said by phone from a hotel room in Berkeley, a stop on a tour that includes shows Saturday at the Coach House and Sunday at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.

“At the same time, we didn’t want, as Dar has said, to discriminate against anybody just because they’re wildly famous and rich. So Michael Stipe and R.E.M.’s “Fall on Me” made it onto the album.

“I’m the sort of person that when people come into my house [who] look at all receptive, I sit them down and force them to listen to music that I think is great,” Shindell said. “Some take well to it, others flee in horror. So there’s an element of that in ‘Cry Cry Cry.’ ”

The deep-voiced Shindell has released three solo albums since 1992 on the folk-based Shanachie Records, including his latest, 1997’s “Reunion Hill.”

A former psychotherapist, Kaplansky, 38, crafts introspective songs that delve deeply into troubled emotional waters. Also a New York resident, the Chicago-born songstress has recorded two albums of folk, rock and country on the St. Paul-based Red House Records. Her third release (“Ten Year Night”), featuring guest appearances by Jennifer Kimball, John Gorka and Shindell, is due out this Spring.

Williams, 31, is a rising alterna-folk-pop singer from Massachusetts. Her three Razor & Tie albums have sold a combined 300,000 units, and she spent this past summer on the road in such high-profile tours as Lilith Fair, the Guinness Fleadh Festival and the revived Newport Folk Festival ’98.

Shindell and Kaplansky have recorded together and appeared on Williams’ previous albums, and Shindell opened portions of Williams’ 1997 “End of the Summer” tour. But the “Cry Cry Cry” project marks the first time all three neo-folkie friends have collaborated.

So far, no tears have been shed. In fact, “Smile Smile Smile” would have been a more fitting moniker.

“There’s this celebratory aspect of bringing greater visibility to these songwriters and their work,” Shindell said. “It’s like putting a stone in a setting on a ring . . . the presentation draws more attention to the beauty in these remarkable songs.”

What makes “Cry Cry Cry” so compelling is the personal spin placed on the covered material. For instance, Peter Buck’s ringing guitars give way to a melancholy vibe on R.E.M.’s “Fall on Me”; tasteful cello embellishments add a chamber-esque touch to Buddy Mondlock’s “The Kid”; and soaring three-part harmonies define a stark, a cappella version of Leslie Smith’s “Northern Cross.”

“Dar and I sing a couple of duets on the album that people countless times have mentioned that they hear such an eerie blend --like we created a new, third voice,” Kaplansky offered in a separate phone interview from her parents’ home in Berkeley.

One of those duets--an unsettling tale of sexual awakening written by Nields titled “I Know What Kind of Love This Is”--touches a common nerve.

Kaplansky, who worked briefly as a duo with Shawn Colvin in Greenwich Village in the early 1980s before earning her PhD in psychology, said she has always loved the song.

“It’s about this girl who’s alone and in despair, and there’s this line: ‘On my parents’ bed/Pretending I’m dead.’ Singing that was like a knife going right through my heart. I had that feeling as a teenager . . . so emotionally, it has this resonance for me.”

In a classy move, the threesome has enlisted a handful of “Cry Cry Cry’s” songwriters to support its shows at various points along the 32-city U.S. tour, including Nerissa and Katryna Nields for Sunday’s Troubadour gig. (The siblings aren’t scheduled to open Saturday’s show at the Coach House, but don’t arrive late--one of Orange County’s own, multi-talented singer-songwriter Kerry Getz, will be previewing brand-new material.)

While the “Cry Cry Cry” caravan opens a window to underexposed talent, Shindell has been deeply moved by the interest shown in his own work from a folk legend.

For her latest album, 1997’s “Gone From Danger,” Joan Baez recorded Shindell’s--”Fishing,” “Money for Floods” and “Reunion Hill.” And last year, Baez also chose him to open a series of her U.S. and European dates.

Speaking with the wide-eyed wonder of a child opening Christmas presents, Shindell said: “It’s incredibly flattering. I mean, one song would have been fine, two just spectacular, but three . . . well, as we say in New York: ‘Fhu-ged-aboud-it!”’

* Cry Cry Cry, featuring Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell, plays Saturday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Kerry Getz opens. 8 p.m. $17.50-$19.50. (949) 496-8930. Also Sunday with Nerissa and Katryna Nields at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. $18-$20 (310) 276-6168.