Kalamazoo folk singer Darcy Wilkin gets ‘more adventurous’ new album, 'Time Walks Along'

After 30 years of performing with The Cornfed Girls and releasing her first solo album in 2020, Kalamazoo singer-songwriter Darcy Wilkin pushes the folk envelope on her sophomore album in a number of ways.

For one thing, the upcoming new album was recorded at Good Luck Studio in Chapel Hill, N.C., with a dozen other “wonderful” musicians, giving the project a lush, full-band sound. 

For another, the songs on “Time Walks Along” have a different vibe.

“This album feels a lot different from the first one. It feels more adventurous stylistically, and the songs — many of them couldn’t have been written in my younger years,” Wilkin said. 

“We took advantage of all the folks that I recorded down in Chapel Hill … by doing some stylistic things that are a little different. So there's like a Cajun tune on there, one that sounds a lot like an old Carter family song, there's one that just has pump organ and harmonica. So yeah, there's some interesting different instrumentation setups.”

Ultimately, though, it’s still folk music, “though it touches on quite a few different styles. As for a theme, while there are a couple of love songs, I’d say the overall theme is the passage of time.”

Wilkin will celebrate the release of the new album at three Michigan shows with special guest Drew Howard: April 10 at The Lucky Wolf in Paw Paw, April 11 at Elderly Instruments in Lansing and April 12 at ArtRat Gallery in Grand Rapids.

“Drew is a masterful musician and will be playing flat-top guitar, Dobro and mandolin,” Wilkin said of the in-demand Michigan artist who’ll also play an opening set at the shows.

“Folks should expect to hear the whole album, front to back, hear some stories, hopefully have some laughs. It’ll be a good time.”

For Wilkin, it’s the latest step in a musical journey that began as a child, growing up listening to her father Mark Sahlgren and his band, Sweetcorn, who would rehearse at their house. She started playing guitar as a teenager.

“Once a week, all these cool dudes came over and played music at my house. And then on the weekends, they’d play at festivals and concerts. I just grew up being taken to all these things. So, I was surrounded by music. It was a great way to grow up, and it definitely informed what I ended up doing.”

That includes being a member of the Kalamazoo acoustic Americana and bluegrass group The Cornfed Girls for the past 29 years — a band that also plans to head back into the studio in the near future.

In addition to her father, Wilkin has leaned on the musical influences of John Prine and North Carolina’s The Red Clay Ramblers, with a pair of musicians from that band — guitarist Jim Watson and keyboardist Mike Carver — actually performing on the new album.

“When I was a kid, they’d stay at my parents’ house when they were on tour in the Midwest. Having those guys around was magical,” Wilkin recalls of The Red Clay Ramblers. 

“Their musicianship is unparalleled and are just some of the sweetest guys. One of the great honors of my life is to have two of the Ramblers on this album.”

The album — produced by Joe Newberry, engineered and mixed by FJ Ventre and mastered by Anna Frick at Ally Sound — also features Jon Shain, Allyn Love, George Hindenach, Joe Newberry, Jennifer Curtis, Bill Newton, Rebecca Newton, Joseph Decosimo and Mike Compton. 

As for the rest of 2026, the plan is “to play a whole lot more solo shows, including a little tour in the summer,” said Wilkin, who’s also part of a new band project, Danger Dear, that features Aaron James Wright, Mike Fuerst and Jay Gavan. 

“We’ll probably be playing out around October for that band,” she said. “It’s kind of spookier stuff, a little bit darker music, so it’s kind of ripe for Halloween time.”

— Find more Michigan music news and concert listings at LocalSpins.com. Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.