Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayl Williams[a] (born January 26, 1953)[2] is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim.[3] Regarded as "an Americana classic",[4][5] the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994.[6] Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim, and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics.[7] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[8] later writing that the album, as well as Lucinda Williams, were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".[9]
This article is about the performer. For her eponymous album, see Lucinda Williams (album). For the athlete, see Lucinda Williams (athlete).
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayl Williams
January 26, 1953
Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- Vocals
- guitar
1978–present
Williams' commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, an album presenting a broader scope of songs that fused rock, blues, country and Americana into a distinctive style that remained consistent and commercial in sound. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which includes the singles "Right in Time" and the Grammy nominated "Can't Let Go", became Williams' greatest commercial success to date. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA the following year, and earned her a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while being universally acclaimed by critics. Williams' next album, Essence, appeared in 2001, to further critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming her first Top 40 album on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 28. Featuring a more downbeat musical tone, with spare, intimate arrangements, Essence earned Williams three Grammy nominations in 2002: Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Get Right With God", which she won.[10]
One of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of her generation,[2] Williams has released a string of albums since that have earned her further critical acclaim and commercial success, including World Without Tears (2003), West (2007), Little Honey (2008), Blessed (2011), Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014), The Ghosts of Highway 20 (2016), and Good Souls Better Angels (2020). Among her various accolades, she has won three Grammy Awards, from 17 nominations,[11] and has received two Americana Awards (one competitive, one honorary), from 11 nominations.[12] Williams ranked No. 97 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1999,[13] and was named "America's best songwriter" by Time magazine in 2002.[14] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked her the 79th greatest songwriter of all time.[15] In 2017, she received the Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctorate of Music Degree,[16] and ranked No. 91 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time.[17] In 2020, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road ranked No. 97, and Lucinda Williams ranked No. 426, on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[18][19] She was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2021.[20] That same year, "Passionate Kisses" ranked No. 437 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[21]
Early life[edit]
Williams was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams, and amateur pianist Lucille Fern Day. Her parents divorced in the mid-1960s. Williams' father gained custody of her and her younger brother, Robert Miller, and sister, Karyn Elizabeth. Like her father, Williams has spina bifida.[22] Her father worked as a visiting professor in Mexico and different parts of the United States, including Baton Rouge; New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; and Utah before settling at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Williams never graduated from high school but was accepted into the University of Arkansas.[23] Williams started writing when she was 6 years old. She showed an affinity for music at an early age, and was playing guitar at 12. Her first live performance was in Mexico City at 17, as part of a duo with her friend, banjo player Clark Jones.[24]
Career[edit]
1978–1987: Early career[edit]
By her early 20s, Williams was playing publicly in Austin and Houston, Texas, concentrating on a blend of folk, rock, and country. She moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1978 to record her first album for Folkways Records. Released in 1979, and titled Ramblin' on My Mind, it was a collection of country and blues covers. Smithsonian Folkways provides a description: "The first recordings from an artist with a gift for interpreting original blues from Robert Johnson to Memphis Minnie to the Carter Family. Williams' unmistakable sound is powerfully direct and filled with melancholy and passion."[25] When the album was re-issued in 1991, the title was shortened to Ramblin'.[26]
Williams' second album, Happy Woman Blues, appeared the following year, and consisted of her own material. Trouser Press felt the record was more "rock-oriented" than Williams' debut album, writing that she used timeworn ideas such as "smoke-stained bars, open roads and a heart that never learns" but reimagined them "in a way that is both contemporary and uncynical".[27] One album track, "I Lost It", was re-recorded 18 years later for Williams' fifth album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998). In the 1980s, Williams moved to Los Angeles, California (before finally settling in Nashville, Tennessee), where, at times backed by a rock band and at others performing in acoustic settings, she developed a following and a critical reputation. While based in Los Angeles, she was briefly married to Long Ryders drummer Greg Sowders, whom she had met in a club.[28]
1988–1997: Lucinda Williams, Sweet Old World, and critical acclaim[edit]
In 1988, Williams released her third album, Lucinda Williams, on Rough Trade Records. Produced by Williams, along with Gurf Morlix, and Dusty Wakeman, the album was met with widespread critical acclaim and was voted the 16th best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.[29] It has since been viewed as a leading work in the development of the Americana movement. In 2014, Robin Denselow called it "an Americana classic" in The Guardian,[30] while Stephen M. Deusner wrote for CMT that it is "a roots-rock landmark, ground zero for today's burgeoning Americana movement".[31] A retrospective review from AllMusic stated "Every song packs an emotional punch line and rewards the listener each time with something new".[32] The single "Changed the Locks", about a broken relationship, received radio play around the country and gained fans among music insiders, including Tom Petty, who would later cover the song in 1996 on the soundtrack album to the Edward Burns film She's The One. Lucinda Williams also features "The Night's Too Long", later recorded by Patty Loveless in 1990 for her album On Down the Line, and "Passionate Kisses", later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her album Come On Come On (1992). Adhering closely in tempo, feel, and instrumentation to Williams' original recording, "Passionate Kisses" became a major hit for Carpenter, enhancing her crossover appeal and earning her the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1994,[33] while it earned Williams the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.[11]
In 1991, the song "Lucinda Williams" appeared on Vic Chesnutt's album West of Rome.[34] The following year, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, on the Chameleon label. Also produced alongside Morlix and Wakeman, Sweet Old World is a melancholy album dealing with themes of suicide and death. The album received mass critical acclaim, and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll.[7] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[8] later writing that the album was "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant [with] short-story details ('chess pieces,' 'dresses that zip up the side') packing a textural thrill akin to local color".[9] AllMusic's Steve Huey said it was just as good as her 1988 self-titled album, calling it "a gorgeous, elegiac record that not only consolidates but expands Williams' ample talents."[35] The track "Something About What Happens When We Talk" was later featured in the Cheryl Strayed biographical adventure film Wild (2014), starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.[36]
During this period, Williams' biggest commercial successes remained as a songwriter. Emmylou Harris said of Williams, "She is an example of the best of what country at least says it is, but, for some reason, she's completely out of the loop and I feel strongly that that's country music's loss." Harris later recorded the title track from Sweet Old World for her career-redefining 1995 album, Wrecking Ball.[37] In 1996, Williams duetted with Steve Earle on the song "You're Still Standin' There" from his album I Feel Alright.[38] Williams also gained a reputation as a perfectionist and slow worker when it came to recording; six years would pass before her next album release, though she appeared as a guest on other artists' albums and contributed to several tribute compilations during this period.[39]
1998–1999: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and commercial breakthrough[edit]
The long-awaited release, 1998's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, was Williams' breakthrough into the mainstream. The album received widespread critical acclaim, topping the annual Pazz & Jop poll, and received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1999. It became Williams' first album to chart on Billboard 200, peaking at No. 68, and remaining on the chart for over five months.[40] The album also went Gold within a year of release.[41] Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly in July 1998, David Browne found Williams' hard-edged evocations of Southern rural life refreshing amid a music market overrun by timid, mass-produced female artists,[42] while The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau argued at the time that she proved herself to be the era's "most accomplished record-maker" by honing traditional popular music composition, understated vocal emotions, and realistic narratives colored by her native experiences and values.[43] In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine called the record an alternative country masterpiece and ranked it No. 304 on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and ranked it No. 305 in 2012's revised list.[44] In September 2020, Rolling Stone updated its Top 500 albums of all-time list, which reflected an updated and diverse judging pool, and the album rose to No. 98 on that list.[18]
The single "Can't Let Go" also enjoyed considerable crossover radio play, and garnered for Williams a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. It was later covered by Robert Plant (best known as lead vocalist of Led Zeppelin) and Alison Krauss as a duet, released in 2021.[45] Another song from the album; "Still I Long for Your Kiss", was featured on the soundtrack album to the 1998 Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer.[46] The track "Lake Charles" was later featured in the first episode of the HBO series True Blood, and was included on the first season's soundtrack album.[47] On February 20, 1999, Williams performed the tracks "Can't Let Go" and "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" on Saturday Night Live (episode "Bill Murray/Lucinda Williams").[48] Williams toured with Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and on her own in support of the album. An expanded edition of the album, including three additional studio recordings and a second CD documenting a 1998 concert, was released in 2006.[49] In 1999, she appeared on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, duetting with David Crosby on the title track.[50]
2000–2003: Essence and World Without Tears[edit]
Williams followed up the success of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road with Essence, released on June 5, 2001. Featuring a less produced, more down-tuned approach both musically and lyrically, Essence moved Williams further from the country music establishment, while winning fans in the alternative music world. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2002, while Williams won the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Get Right With God", an atypically up-tempo gospel-rock tune from the otherwise rather low-key release. The title track includes a contribution on a Hammond organ by alternative country musician Ryan Adams, and earned Williams a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. At the same ceremony, Williams was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her cover of "Cold, Cold Heart", from the all-star Hank Williams tribute album, Timeless: Hank Williams Tribute (2001).[51] On January 13, 2002, Williams performed with Elvis Costello on the inaugural episode of CMT Crossroads.[52] Later that year, Time magazine christened Williams "America's best songwriter",[14] and CMT ranked her No. 36 on their list of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.[53]
Her seventh album, World Without Tears, was released on April 8, 2003. A musically adventurous though lyrically downbeat album, this release found Williams experimenting with talking blues stylings and electric blues. It received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, becoming Williams' first Top 20 album on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 18.[40] AllMusic called it "the bravest, most emotionally wrenching record she's ever issued".[54] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn deemed it "a rock 'n' roll workout", writing that its edgiest songs sounded "close to the raw, disoriented feel" of the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main St..[55] World Without Tears earned Williams two Grammy nominations in 2004: Best Contemporary Folk Album, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Righteously". The previous year, Williams was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her cover of Greg Brown's "Lately", from Going Driftless: An Artists' Tribute to Greg Brown.[56]
Backing bands[edit]
From 1985 to 1996, Williams' band included guitarist Gurf Morlix.[108]
From before 2012 into 2022, Williams has called her backing band the Buick 6, whose name was inspired by Bob Dylan's song "From a Buick 6". Since 2012, Buick 6 has been Butch Norton, drums, who joined Williams in 2007; Stuart Mathis, guitar; and David Sutton, bass.[109] Buick 6 has occasionally performed and recorded separately from Williams.[110] For Williams' 2022 tours, Jim Oblon joined on guitar and keyboards.[111]
Personal life[edit]
In 1986, Williams married Long Ryders drummer Greg Sowders, but the couple divorced within eighteen months.[28] In September 2009 she married Tom Overby, an executive from Best Buy's music department, who is also her manager. The marriage ceremony was performed on stage at First Avenue by her father.[112]
On November 17, 2020, Williams had a stroke in her home in Nashville.[113] Doctors discovered a blood clot, and she was discharged five weeks later. Though at the time she needed to walk with a cane and still could not play guitar, she subsequently recovered in time for her summer 2021 tour with Jason Isbell.[114]
Awards and legacy[edit]
Americana Music Honors and Awards[edit]
The Americana Music Honors & Awards are presented annually by the Americana Music Association and celebrate outstanding achievement in Americana music.[115] Established in 2002, Williams is one of the most nominated artists in the awards history, with eleven. She has received two awards (one competitive, one honorary).
