Lucinda Williams C/D?

She wasn't coming back on her own. "Where's Lu?" a woman, apparently a manager, was asking. "We're late." Lu was last seen standing behind the outdoor stage, just after the rain had soaked the parking lot, flipping through a thick black binder of song lyrics, taking sheets out, putting them back in. The band looked nervous and stalled by tuning yet again. "Are you ready, Lu?" the woman asked. "I have to go to the bathroom," Lu said. They looked over at the line of Johnny-on-the-Spots. "No way," Lu said. She closed the binder and headed out the back of the lot, toward a bar.

nice voice

New album streaming on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2014/09/21/348713419/first-listen-lucinda-williams-down-where-the-spirit-meets-the-bone

the new double album is phantastic. quite dark. a slow, muddy river approaching the sea. her voice is kind of broken but the music and the band (bill frisell, david sutton, greg leisz, val mccallum, butch norton) are ace. te blues "doors of heaven" is incredibly dense and moody.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/27/464433522/first-listen-lucinda-williams-the-ghosts-of-highway-20

I'm one of the many who sorta gave up on her after being disappointed too many times, but this new one is, as you say, phantastic. To me, it's her Time Out Of Mind, or maybe her Wrecking Ball; a "statement" record that succeeds because of how seemingly not eager to please it is. The longer tunes on here--the title track, "Louisiana Story"--are some of my favorite music she's made in years. Someone said this is as much Frisell's record as Lucinda's, and though I wouldn't go quite that far (he's conspicuously absent on half the songs on the second disc), he brings a lot to these songs beyond the clock-punching I think he can sometimes be guilty of. The guitar nerd in me also really loves how the two guitars are separated left and right. Just like Fugazi! As I get to know the album better, I absolutely plan to spend some time listening to it hard-panned. That's just my idea of fun, I guess.

Also, this is a double CD that comes with a t-shirt (at least it at my local indie shop) for $9.99! Can't really beat that.

That's good to hear, I will check this one out -- there was one or two there that I thought were just kinda bad...

Likewise. Have been steering clear of her for decades but that description sounds like it's time to come out of the bunker.

The Lucinda Williams album has gone off of NPR because of you. Elliott Smith too.

But some singles streaming elsewhere. Hard to stop thinking I'm listening to recent Bob Dylan.

I can't stand the new title track. Can she please stops slurring?

Is it an affectation or a genuine physical affliction?

Wait, this is a second double album with Frisell et al?I liked the last one ok, the first in a while, maybe since ... "Essence?" But that was largely because it felt like a little effort had been made after several years of coasting. Good to hear that this is (may be) a major work.

Hm, s/t is not streaming.

Wow, what a great guitar record this turns out to be. And yeah, man, does she refuse to enunciate. Wake up, Lucinda!

I liked parts of Blessed and Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone, but I was so bored by this one that I gave up five songs in. Might go back and give it another shot later--does it ever pick up, or is the whole thing a drowsy blues crawl?

Tbf, if there was no Lucinda it would sound not unlike some of Frisell's Americana records.

I liked Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone but I haven't loved anything since Car Wheels. I'll give the new one a chance.

Agreed 100% on her vocal affectations, which can be extreme. I trace it back to a duet she did with Elvis Costello, There's a Story In Your Voice. She sounds like she's parodying herself. Her first line sounds like "Wuuunce I Tuuuhoold Yew Faaiiiry Tayellz"

I was listening to "Essence" the other day, and I know it was pretty underrated when it came out, not least because "Car Wheels" was so massively overrated, but I think "Essence" might be her best record. At the very least this is one of the best songs called "Blue:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_AVhvdpgw

yeah i think that is my fave of hers.

Of her guitar army doubles, I dug most of Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone but thought it should have been even closer to the bone, ditching a few fatty clunkers, especially the endless closer, but it's easy to skip, they all are of course---then Ghosts of Highway 20 I tempted to say is an exorcism or six, but really it's how to live with the ghosts you can't shake, lighting up the barn, the sweatlodge, smoke 'em if you got 'em. Woody Guthrie's "House of Earth," completed by Lucinda, is not one that can be finished, with its shifting, going deeper and sidewise and up a little (the slurs totally work in this ballad, and I'm totally used to them after all these years anyway).
Re-recorded Sweet Old World, now This Sweet Old World, with re-recorded, prev. unreleased material from the original SOW sessions, is real good too, though I haven't done any comparative listening.
Next up: a collab w Charles LLoyd and the Marvels, awright,

"House of Earth" is on Ghosts of Highway 20, and an example of how she can still go guitar armyless when necessary.

Vanished Gardens (the album w/Charles LLoyd and the Marvels) is really good stuff.

Indeed it is. I especially like the re-do of "Dust."

beautifully desolate lyrics, had never heard that one before.

I stick to the sweet old world of her first few albums.

From before the stroke?

I know nothing about her life.

Was joking. Don’t know if there was such an event, assume there probably wasn’t, it’s just that she sings as if there was.

Glad to see World Without Tears here. I like it every bit as much as Car Wheels.

I know a lot of people think she's spent at this point, but there are some gems to be found among her recent albums: "A Kiss Like Your Kiss," in particular, is stunning.

At the very least her most recent albums *sound* great.

I also got off the bus after West (which contained one of her best ever songs, "What If?") and I highly doubt she'll make another great record. The re-recording of Sweet Old World was terrible.

Saw Lucinda with Charles Lloyd and the Marvels featuring Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz and more tonight for free at the Library of Congress. Sounded good. I haven’t heard the album yet. Lloyd’s horn playing worked well with her ragged slurred vocals. They did Dylan’s Masters of War, plus a bunch of songs from the album.

Finally listened to some of the album this morning (after seeing the gig last night). A real collaboration. She defers a lot to Lloyd (who once played with Howlin Wolf among others). At the gig last night, Lloyd played piano on a classical feeling composition with local DC violinist Chelsea Green to open the night, then he and the band played for quite a bit, and finally Lucinda came out to join them.

Lloyd (who once played with Howlin Wolf among others)

Err, he's also had a rather esteemed career as a leader and released dozens of incredible records. Playing with Howlin Wolf when he was in high school is hardly his claim to fame

I knew he was a leader etc., but I only recently heard of the Howlin Wolf connection. Sorry I didn't make that more clear

The Lucinda W & Charles Lloyd & the Marvels Vanished Gardens album is Geoff Himes #1 Roots album in his top 10 for Paste.

her tough new album is better than anything she's released in some time ... Stuart Mathis kills all over it, and the dark mean rock songs really suit her late-period voice

so much dgaf old person swag

That sounds great. Saw someone compare it to Ragged Glory the other day, which definitely raised my interest.

The band sounds great.

She sounds terrible. I had to stop listening to there for a while because her slurring was interfering with my memory of those first four albums.

She's splitting the difference between Exile-era Mick Jagger and post-car wreck Jan Berry, what's not to like?

Let me count the ways1

her voice has always been an acquired taste, and it has certainly gotten rougher over the years ... I think she uses and writes for it well, it reminds me of how Dylan has adapted

I'm sure my appreciation for the way she sounds now has been enhanced by seeing her live a couple of times in recent years

I need to check this new one out, slurred vocals and all

Lol sorry I always think Sway is on Exile but it's not

MY POINT STANDS

Lucinda Williams has announced a new album, Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart, due June 30 via Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers. It's her first new album since 2020's Good Souls Better Angels, and her first since suffering a stroke in November 2020 tha left her motor skills partially impaired -- including her ability to play the guitar. In writing the album, without her typical method, she called on her husband Tom Overby, friend and collaborator Jesse Malin, longtime road manager Travis Stephens, and more to co-write and collaborate. Additional contributions come from co-producer and engineer Ray Kennedy, and backing vocalists Jeremy Ivey, Buddy Miller, Angel Olsen, Margo Price, Tommy Stinson, and more.

Lucinda tapped Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa for backing vocals on the title track and "New York Comeback," which she released today. "New York Comeback" is classic country-infused rock, with earnest lyrics and standout harmonies. Listen to the single and check out the artwork and tracklist for Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart below.

More than halfway through her memoir. It’s a solid, easygoing work that reads like “her”, although the prose doesn’t impress me that much. Nowhere near as bleak as Rickie Lee Jones’. There are maybe 5 sentences on her first marriage, which is about what Elvis Costello devoted to

I was surprised to learn that Charles Bukowski incorporated her childhood home and father into his novel WOMEN