Lucinda Williams – It's a Long Way to the Top

As someone who has been tagged with the some what uncomfortable moniker of "late bloomer", Lucinda Williams seems to have stuck by the idea of learning her craft and learning it well. At 51 years old, Williams is finally beginning to be discovered by others than her adoring cult-ish fans and it appears that it's not just for her wonderfully smoky and yet piercing vocals or the hypnotic music she coaxes from her guitar but she is finally receiving the proper acknowledgment from music fans for her incredible songwriting skills. A number of critics have placed her near the very top of contemporary American songwriters and they do that for a good reason. Lucinda Williams writes songs that can touch the hidden parts of your soul to make you smile at the light moments of your life or to resurrect and soothe the pain of a broken heart from the graveyard of your mind.


The daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams (he read one of his poems at President Bill Clinton's second inauguration), Lucinda, a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, grew up in a very literate atmosphere. In various interviews she has said that she was fascinated by her fathers students who would stop by the house to discuss their poetry. "Poets don't hold back. They write about everything from a cat sleeping in a window to a wreck on the highway – from, you know, suicide to going to the grocery store to get tomatoes for a casserole to trying to meet a guy in a bar … you try to say something important and in a way that is different."

As a young woman, she discovered the Southern gothic writers like Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty and devoured their works, finding a muse in their words. Other major literary influences on her were the likes of Charles Bukowski, John Ciardi and Kenneth Patchen. But it was music that took hold in her life. Williams has said that her father not only passed along his love or language but his deep appreciation for the Delta blues and country singers like Hank Williams. Her mother introduced her to the music of Joan Baez, which, coupled with her other influences like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, inspired Lucinda to pick up a guitar and try her hand at song writing. But it was one of her fathers' students that inadvertently set her on her musical journey when he brought by Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited by the house. She was captivated by the lyricism of Dylan and how his words could "cut you to the bone".

Her first real foray into the music business was in the early 70's in the clubs in Austin and Houston, making her way along in the same fashion as the majority of young musicians. "You could work a few days a week, play a few clubs, share a house with a few friends, and get by on $125 a week. Nowadays you have to work 40 hours a week and squeeze music into what's left over. It's really hard for young kids just starting out today." She relocated to Jackson, Mississippi in 1978 where she made her first recording were for Folkways Records. Her debut album Ramblin' On My Mind, recorded in one day, was released later in 1978. Her follow up Happy Woman Blues was released in 1980. Although her first album was all covers, Happy Woman Blues consisted of all songs written by Williams. Neither album garnered much attention.

Williams relocated again in the 1980's to Los Angeles where she was briefly married to Long Ryders drummer Greg Sowders. In 1988, Williams self-titled album was released on Rough Trade Records. The single "Changed the Locks" did get a little radio play around the country but more importantly, it brought Williams some attention from fans and folks in the music industry. It also caught the attention of Tom Petty who later recorded the song himself.

In 1992, Williams, having moved once again, this time to Nashville, Tennessee, released Sweet Old World on Chameleon Records. This album was a more melancholic affair with its underlying themes being suicide and death. Although the album barely made it to #25 on the Billboards Heatseekers chart (a weekly chart that tracks new and developing artists), it established her reputation as a songwriter. Mary Chapin Carpenter had a smash with her cover of Williams' "Passionate Kisses" from the Sweet Old World disc. Not only did Chapin receive a Grammy for her recording, Williams earned her first Grammy for Best Country Song – 1994 for the effort. Emmy Lou Harris recorded a cover of the title track "Sweet Old World" on her 1995 album Wrecking Ball.

A perfectionist by nature and an almost tortuously slow artist when it comes to recording, it took six years for her next release. But the wait was well worth it. Her follow up was 1998's Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, which according to most critics and fans alike, is the best album in her catalogue so far. Rolling Stone, notoriously tough on folk artists, gave it a near perfect rating, calling it a "country-soul masterpiece" and SPIN called it a contender for Album of the Year. It won her a Grammy for The Best Contemporary Folk Album and was part of the soundtrack to the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer. Singles "Still I Long For Your Kiss" and "Can't Let Go" were widely played on radio stations around the country and the album quickly went gold. In support of the album, Williams opened for an early icon of hers, Bob Dylan, on a national tour.

Her next disc, Essence released in 2001, was a clear shift for Williams as she moved from her somewhat solid fan base in the country music genre to a more mainstream adult alternative crowd. She scored another Grammy award for Best Female Rock Performance with the single "Get Right With God" (which featured Ryan Adams on the Hammond organ).

Williams continues to experiment with various styles in her later recordings. World Without Tears brought Williams back to a blues base while her 2007 album "West" seemed to echo the pathos of Sweet Old World revealing a cathartic release about dealing with the death of her mother and a rather nasty breakup of a relationship.

Her latest, Little Honey, is pure Williams with her soulful lyrics and powerfully touching voice – covering blues, folk and country but all with a rock undertone including a rather unique cover of AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top".

There are a lot of truths about Lucinda Williams but one that will never change is her desire to stay true to her own vision even if it has slowed down her almost certain arrival at world-wide acclaim. She does things the way she wants to do them. This attitude has won her a legion of fans and has made her into a critics favorite but it has also caused more than a few run ins with record companies. But it is her fiercely held independence and vision that allows Lucinda to stay true to what it is that she wants to do.

A good example of her independence was seen in the fall of 2007. Williams announced a set of shows in Los Angeles and New York where she played five nights in each city. The idea was to perform her complete catalogue over consecutive nights. The second set of each night featured guests to perform along with Williams. The guest list was a varied as you might expect with performers like Steve Earle, Mike Campbell, David Byrne, Ann Wilson, Yo La Tengo and Chuck Prophet. Going one step further, each performance was recorded and made available to the audience the night of the show.

Lucinda Williams is moving, quickly now, from the fringes of cult adoration to a more main stream acceptance while keeping in step with the adoration of critics and music insiders. Her music is evocative and captivating, her voice, now, is mellow at times and a truly pained expression of heartbreak and loss at others but it is her lyrics that truly elevate her to an almost iconic level.

Her lyrics seem like they could be the soundtrack to an Edward Hooper canvas and they have a tendency to bring back memories of Springsteen in his Ghost Of Tom Joad and Nebraska period. The characters are real people, living real lives, laughing at the joys in life or reeling from the pain. It's not formulaic by any stretch and it works.

When it comes to how Lucinda plots her career, she answers thoughtfully. "You've got to look at the big picture. I'm not willing to make certain compromises. The only thing that lasts is your art and your principles and staying true to them. Finding the musical mainstream shouldn't be the end all be all of your existence. Tastes change quickly. Some want to go for it and get it quickly. Do you want a long, slow ride or a short, quick one?"

Guess which ride Lucinda Williams chose.

Hey, nice piece. One thing: "Passionate Kisses" is not on Sweet Old World. It was on the 1988 self-titled release.