THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The chance to see Lucinda Williams came up at the last minute and as I could almost walk from home I went out on damp and cold Thursday over to the O2. I went more out of inclination than expectation. So, I was unprepared for the incredible evening it turned out to be.
I knew Lucinda Williams by reputation. Just a couple of weeks ago she was named Greatest Ever Americana Artist by the writers at the Americana UK music website and she has won three Grammys. But I generally avoid going to see old rock acts. All too often success has dulled the hunger, age has dampened the fire and various substances have dulled the sharp edges. And Williams suffered a stroke in 2020 which prevents her from playing guitar. So, I had no idea what would happen when she was helped to the mike by one of her roadies.
But Lucinda Williams was never really a 'rock' icon, in fact it's been hard to place her in any genre. For example, in 2002 she was nominated for Grammys for both Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Female Country Vocal Performance and won the award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. And she was hardly filling stadiums as a youngster. Her breakout album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, came when she was 45 and she'd been performing and recording for decades.
The opening act, LA Edwards was a great way to start off the evening. They are basically Luke Edwards and his two brothers with friends. Their sound is a new take on classic Los Angeles rock. The brothers' harmony would been right at home in the Laurel Canyon of the '70s. And though you can hear the influences of groups like CCR, Jackson Browne and particularly Tom Petty, they have taken that inspiration and crafted a fresh sound that is clean, bright and a delight. Special moments were the songs 'Louisiana' and 'Day I Die'.
After the stage was reset Buick 6, Williams' backing band, came out and picked up their instruments, then Williams was assisted to the mic, and the magic began. It was the casting of spells to music, words that conjured up memories of events we haven't all lived but have all experienced, images of the Southern US that awoke memories even in those who have never been there, all to the tunes of rock and roll, country, folk, the blues and who really cares what it was called as long as there was another song coming.
William's voice isn't the same as it sounded on her albums before the stroke, there is a vibrato that wasn't there before, and while it isn't as strong as it once was, it has a richer and more vulnerable sound that matches the emotional content of her songs. Three of the songs she performed at the O2 were of lost friends: 'Drunken Angel', a tribute to her friend Blaze Foley, a musician who died in Texas of a gunshot, 'Lake Charles', a memory of road trips to her the town of her birth with her friend Clyde who has since died, and 'Stolen Moments', a song about the times she remembers Tom Petty and one of the most evocative songs of loss ever written.
William's accent hasn't changed, it is still the sound of the American south, of Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas. And her songs are Southern stories. She introduced her song, 'Car Wheels On A Gravel Road' as memories of her childhood in Macon, Georgia. Her singing was as poetic a vision of a child's world as that of Annie Dillard's book American ChildhoodK, another southern writer. When Williams sang 'Crescent City' she captured the spirit of New Orleans, you could almost smell the gumbo and hear the sounds of the Krewes on parade. Her blues roots were showing when she sang 'Blind Pearly Brown', the story of the blind preacher and musician who she used to go with father to see perform on the streets of Macon.
And while Williams no longer plays guitar, she was more than ably accompanied by Buick Six. They are multi-instrumentalist Doug Pettibone, drummer Butch Norton, bassist David Sutton, along with guitarist Stuart Mathis. They stayed with her as she moved from blues to country to rock to a Rubik's cube combination of styles, flowing in and around the poetry of her lyrics. Listening to her sing was as uplifting as gospel, as healing as the blues and as poignant as any poetry of loss, in which the South is steeped.
Williams' lyrics are poetry, which is no surprise as she was raised by her father, a poet and teacher of literature. She honored him by putting one of his poems, 'Dust', to music and sang it as reverentially as a hymn, saying how pleased he would have been to hear it. Her words are extremely well chosen. She's known to take years to get her songs just where she wants them. Her love of words also helps explain her popularity in the UK. As she said onstage, you have to love a country that names its bottled water after a poet, as she brandished a bottle labeled WB Yeats. (Irish, Lucinda, but close enough – ed]
There were moments of hesitation in her speech, and she was a bit unsteady on her feet, but listening to her sing was a benediction. This wasn't a performance of someone looking back at her career with nostalgia. Some of her most rocking songs – 'Let's Get the Band Back Together', 'Jukebox' and 'Rock N Roll Heart' were from her 2023 album – Rock N Roll Heart. She also did a mean rendition of ZZ Top's 'Jesus Just Left Chicago'. She rocks. And she shared the fruits of her writing with those of us in the Indigo that night, along the wisdom and wit they contained.
So, I didn't regret going out on a wet, cold Thursday night. I also don't regret not seeing Williams earlier. I believe she was at her best that night; her determination, her strength and her joy in the music combined with her skill and experience to enchant all of us who were there. The only regret I would have would have been if I didn't go.
Let's Get the Band Together
Crescent City
Drunken Angel (about Blaze Foley)
Stolen Moments (about Tom Petty)
These Three Days
Blind Pearly Brown
Freight Train
Juke Box
Lake Charles (for Clyde)
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Rock and Roll Heart
Out of Touch
Dust (sound steeped in the South, Allman Brothers, based on her father's poetry)
Essence
Honey Bee (a bit off for her age)
Jesus Just Left Chicago (ZZ Top song)
You Took My Joy
A story about boudin and gumbo
