You cannot describe Rust Belt Chic any better than this 90′s song by Dar Williams entitled  ”Southern California Wants To Be Western New York”. It is all there. What? Click on the video and hear the girl sing and decipher for yourself.

Oh, hell. Here is Williams take on her lyrics.

“Western New York is the epitome of something,” Williams said this summer in a phone interview from her office in Massachusetts following her European tour. “That something is what I write about: true life, unmeditated. Cues taken not from TV, but landscape and history and tradition and architecture.

“That phenomenon of reality is found in Western New York.”

Those who know, know. Here is Tim Wendel, senior writer at Baseball Weekly, speaking about Rust Belters reaction to the song at a solo acoustic show he saw at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Mich.

She did the song, and she blew us away. We suddenly felt we were back at the Anchor Bar or staying up late on Elmwood Avenue. She hit all the bells and whistles, especially that part about the raised tubs.”

I think the crowd was split between those who knew Western New York and were emphatic with their applause, and those who were scratching their heads over it.

Click on the video and hear the song for yourself. If you harbor a soul, I am not sure there is anything to be confused about.

–Richey