Robin and Linda Williams have brought their country-folk harmonies and songs to this area so many times that their appearance at the Kirkland Art Center 8:00 p.m. Friday will be more like a reunion than a concert. Actually, the Williamses, along with their aptly named "Fine Group" of bass and dobro player, should present a fabulous concert, fortified by a new CD, "In The Company Of Strangers," released in January. It is one of their best and tightest.

Themes are usually in the head of the listener - but I'm sure this album has one that encompasses many. First there's a harkening back to straight old country music, without all that commercial fluff but a lot of emotion. Then, there is love, romantic, lost and recovered; breakup, return, aging, the road, and a bit of fun too.

Country frets are prevalent as the album alternates elements of honky-tonk bars, dreams, trucks, strangers, jail and such with strong contemporary passions that describe a more vivid truth. All songs are written by the Williamses and Jerome Clark, except one, Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." Sung in a soft, sad way by Linda, with light guitar accompaniment, it is gripping. "Cold, Cold Heart" is a perfect country song by the "perfect" country singer and composer; hearing it returns you to "The Perfect Country Song" earlier on the disc. It's about a singer who did everything wrong.

The Williams' music is exciting, rhythmical, deeply reaching; the words stretch the limits of the imagination and the tracks are quite consistent. Down to details: The couple have been married for 25 years and are sturdy performers, reaching audiences from the Grand Ole Opry to those in some 100 venues a year. They live in Virginia, have toured the world, and create exceptional harmonies.

• "In The Company Of Strangers" begins with the violin-tinged "Hard Country," a theme setter with Linda singing about storms and strife, amid a chorus of "I'm stuck in the hard, hard country," which could suggest the musical style itself.
• This is followed by Robin's realistic and punchy twist about the feelings of an old singer still on stage. The same idea is repeated in the honky-tonk explosive "Bar Band in Hillbilly Heaven," about an old singer who died before he could realize his dream of "playing lead guitar Hank and Lefty and every honky-tonk hero who ever had a broken heart and a six pack to go."
• And there's also the former singer, who realizes he was "The Perfect Country Song." Reality creeps in with "Allow It," a perky husband and wife duo about about accepting habits and love; "This is the Real Thing," a prize of a ballad with smart use of country themes, marvelously rendered by Linda, and "Rumble," a wry and intelligent tune sung by a bitter woman in a bar who hears a sound reminding her of her lover. Robin's sad wail about getting over his woman and looking forward to a "new old world for to see," makes you realize that he won't; and Linda's "So Long, See You Tomorrow," is an optimistic ballad in which she knows her lover will return. "Some Peculiar Beast," about a murderer on the run, breaks the pattern, but breaks it nicely. It's an Appalachian-type number with a flavorful country beat and riveting harmony.
• As the last of the exciting dozen, "In the Company of Strangers" has Robin driving straight through the night, realizing that the highway keeps him in the "Company of Strangers." It's a real stretch, but is he listening to the radio?