- Hot on the heels of her new release “Little Honey” Lucinda Williams will release “Lu in 08,” a digital-only EP of protest songs just before the presidential elections (Oct. 28.) The EP will feature four live tracks, three of which are covers: Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” and the Thievery Corporation/Wayne Coyne collaboration “Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun.” The fourth cut is the Williams original “Bone of Contention,” which was originally intended for inclusion on “Little Honey.” Williams is currently on the road in support of “Little Honey.”
- Sure Ryan Adams can be a pretentious dick (I hate, HATE, country music), but he’s an undeniable talent especially live. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will play a hometown Halloween show Oct. 31 at New York’s Apollo Theatre. The groups next Lost Highway album, “Cardinology,” will arrive Oct. 28. Fans who pre-order through iTunes will receive an immediate download of first single “Fix It.”
Tag Archives: Lucinda-Williams
Tim McGraw is Apologizing to Fans for Latest Release
- PopMatters.com has a nice posting on Lucinda Williams’ new Lost Highway release “Little Honey” and on Columbus, Ohio’s Two Cow Garage.
- If you’re in Nashville this Friday October the 17th totally blow off mall-country teeny-bopper Taylor Swift’s show and head down to see Justin Townes Earle with Caitlin Rose and Chris Scruggs at the Exit/In. Rose’s mom, Liz, has penned a few of Taylor Swift’s biggest hits so it’ll kind of be like being there but without the crappy music (Rose’s mom’s cuts excluded, of course.)
- As if that weren’t enough Junior Brown will bring his guit-fiddle wizardry to Nashville on the same night (9/17) at the Station In.
- Tim McGraw is apologizing to his fans for the labels decision to put out his third greatest hits collection. “I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music. I’ve only had one studio album since my last hits package. It has to be just as confusing to the fans as it is to me. I had no involvement in the creation or presentation of this record.” Hey Time, now how about apologizing for the rest of the crap you’ve put out in your career (excluding the cuts penned by my uncle, of course.)
- The Times Colonist of Canada has a nice write up of Kris Kristofferson’s show at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria, British Columbia “…last night, before an adoring sold-out crowd at the McPherson Playhouse, a huge dose humility is what worked best for veteran singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. The native of Brownsville, Texas, opened his Victoria debut with Shipwrecked in the 80’s, which he delivered in a plainspoken manner befitting of a folk singer. Dressed in black jeans with a black shirt, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder and harmonica rack around his neck, Kristofferson, 72, cut quite a figure. The giveaway to his country past? Dusty cowboy boots. Pure Kristofferson.”
Emmylou Harris To Release New Album
– From Billboard.com – Country music legend Emmylou Harris will release her first album of new material in almost five years.
On on June 10 “All I Intended To Be” (Nonesuch) will be released as the follow-up to “Stumble Into Grace,” which debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard 200 in September 2003.
Harris told Billboard.com last summer she secured assistance for the new album from the McGarrigle sisters and Seldom Scene lead singer John Starling. Harris duets with the latter on Billy Joe Shaver’s “Old Five and Dimers.”
Harris, who turned 61 last week, will also be inducted April 27 into the Country Music Hall of Fame. (via the 9513)
– Crawdaddy.com asks who is the reining queen of alt.country, Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edward?
– SF Weekly talks to Tift Merritt about her new release – Another Country, living in Paris and her new home New York.
– Billboard.com reports on a topic I’ve recently been ranting about on this blog, the recent demise of music magazines. John Biondolillo, general manager at Dave Matthews’ ATO Records mentions part of the overall problem, a generational shift in media consumption.
“The closures of the two magazines might also reflect larger trends for indie labels promoting triple A and alt-country acts. “In the last 18 months, our focus has begun to shift away from print ads and towards online and TV advertising,” Biondolillo says.”
“I’ll Love You till I Die” – Top 30 Country/Roots Love Songs
Sure most genres deal with topic of love but few can work all the angles like country and roots music. Courting, marriage, sex, cheating, fighting, break-ups, shooting, disposing of bodies… it’s all there in all its heart-wrenching glory.
Some old, some new, all guaranteed to get to you some when mixed with tequila and memories.
I’m sure I let some beauties sip so feel free to add your own.
1. He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones
2. I Walk The Line – Johnny Cash
3. Angel Flying Too Close the Ground – Willie Nelson
4. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – Willie Nelson
5. Always On My Mind – Willie Nelson
6. Valentine’s Day – Steve Earle
7. Still I Long For Kiss – Lucinda Williams
8. Marry Me – Drive By Truckers
9. Arlington – Ridley Bent
10. Dale Watson – Every Song I Write For You
11. Before The Next Teardrop Falls – Freddy Fender
12. Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
13. Oh My Sweet Carolina – Ryan Adams
14. Carrying Your Love With Me – George Strait
15. Cowboy Take Me Away – Dixie Chicks
16. Crazy – Patsy Cline
17. Gentle on My Mind – Glen Campbell
18. Lovin You Against My Will – Gary Allan
19. Golden Ring – George Jones and Tammy Wynette
20. He’ll Have To Go – Jim Reeves
21. Hello Darlin – Conway Twitty
22. Melissa – Allman Brothers Band
23. Hello Walls – Faron Young
24. Help Me Make It Through the Night – Sammi Smith
25. I Cross My Heart – George Strait
26. Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’ – Charley Pride
27. It Only Hurts When I Cry – Dwight Yoakam
28. Please Break My Heart – Thad Cockrell and Caitlin Cary
29. Lovesick Blues – Hank Williams
30. I’m So Lonesome, I Could Cry – Hank Williams
Lucinda Williams and Old Crow Medicine Show on Austin City Limits
Kick your holidays off right tune into your local public television station and catch Lucinda Williams and Old Crow Medicine Show will perform on Austin City Limits, December 22nd. Lucinda’s set is listed as:
- Righteously
- Honey Bee
- Joy
- Unsuffer Me
- West
Lucinda Williams – Town Hall, New York – 10/02/07
It’s rare to walk out of a concert and think, “Damn I was just a witness to a piece of musical history.” On a warm, humid night last Tuesday I thought just that.
I came late to Lucinda Williams. I was introduced to Lu (as her adoringly rabid fans refer to her) in 2003 with the release World Without Tears, a mixed bag of the sublime (Righteously, Over Time) and the awkward (Sweet Side, American Dream.) This was five years after her masterpiece “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” hit the shelves. The latter was the album being covered in it’s entirety this evening.
“Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” was the the 1998 Nashville and Canoga Park CA. recorded album, with guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris, that moved Lucinda to the level of being taken seriously as a singer-songwriter heavyweight. The six year labor that produced lucid stories of Southern climes, love discovered and easily lost and the forlorn and wayward put her on the map as a sort of musical Flannery O’Connor.
Williams seems to be a living contradiction. She seems to mirror the very same schizophrenic and contradictory nature of the alt.country/folk/cow-punk etc. genre she is arguably the reining queen of, even she wasn’t sure which musical plane she currently occupies. “They say I’m country but more folk nowadays. Who knows?” She remarked later in the show.
Stopping in New York City to do a five-night retrospective, which seems to be in vogue as late with Sonic Youth on tour playing “Daydream Nation,†and Slint doing “Spiderland.†Each night featured a selection from her discography in reverse chronological order (omitting her recent release West,)
The crowd was ready be behold something special. Restless and rustling and smelling of booze and cologne this was the closest Times Square gets to a roadhouse.
As far as a country music analog, Lucinda is defiantly more Dolly than Loretta. Vulnerably childlike rather than grittily resilient.
Flanked by a top shelf band – Doug Pettibone rhythm/lead guitar, mandolin and pedal steel, David Sutton was on bass, Chet Lyster playing rhythm/lead guitar, pedal steel and keyboards, and Butch Norton There was also a guest appearance by Americana trailblazer Jim Lauderdale on guitar and backup vocals, Steve Earle (strolling over from his Greenwich Village home) was on guitar, harmonica, lead and backup vocals.
“I thought I’d talk a little bit more about the songs than I usually do, a little bonus.” Williams offered from the stage this night. As a treat for hard-core fans that know all the background on each song these were additional gems.
The first background story was when she recounted playing the song “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” at the legendary Bluebird Cafe with her dad, the poet Miller Williams, in the audience. The song of growing up poor in the South caused her father to approach her after the show and apologize. “I’m sorry.” “Why,” she said. “Because that’s you as the little girl in that song.” She admitted that until that moment she never realized it on a conscious level before.
The song “I Lost It” was inspired by an “I Found It” bumper sticker she saw everywhere while traveling in Houston in the 70’s. And like many of her songs “Lake Charles” was based on an ex-love.
Her gravel-in-velvet voice was in perfect for the event. Each syllable was nuanced and word was elevated to heady levels for all to witness.
The song “Joy” was a ferocious rocker that moved into Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” terrain when guitartists Doug Pettibone and Chet Lyster faced each other in a flurrying duel of solos. “Still I Long for Your Kiss” was said to be inspired by William’s love for 70’s R&B and “2 Kool 2 B 4-gotten”, a song written in a New Years Day hangover haze and inspired by two books of photography– Juke Joint: Photographs by Birney Imes and Appalachian Portraits by Shelby Lee Adams, floated and ached along at a beautiful pace.
My favorite song from the album “Concrete and Barbed Wire” was a nice, dusty twanged-out duet between Williams and Earle that they appeared to have a lot of fun doing.
At one moment Williams took the time to pint out Steve Earle’s contribution to the album’s production and how if he hadn’t grabbed the reins it might not have been made. In testament to his role in birthing this masterpiece Earle replied “It’s hard to fuck up great songs”. “Oh, I could find a way to fuck them up.” Williams answered.
After the album was covered there was a brief intermission and then the show was back on. A highlight was a duet with Steve Earle titled “Jail House Tears”. Steve Earle performed an a rousing version of “Ellis Unit One” a song from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack.
I’ve seen Lucinda in concert before and she readily reveals a thin-skin diva’s-temperament for critical feedback. She mentioned picking up the local entertainment rag Time Out New York that seemed to give her a less then favorable feature review. She confessed to the adoring crowd “listen I’m an artist not a performer” which then elicited the predictable “We Love you Lucinda!!!” A younger Lorretta would have ignored the ignorant Yankee that wrote the damning review, or would have told them to kiss her ass. Lucinda is more delicate then that, despite her gritty literary exterior.
 Lucinda Williams – Honey Bee – Town Hall NYC, 10-3-07Â
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dQXiR8WVeg[/youtube]
Lucinda Williams – Town Hall, New York – New York Times
The New York Times has a nice write up on the Lucinda Williams “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road†show played Tuesday night at Town Hall in New York City. This was the third of a five concert retrospective of William’s discography on in reverse chronological order. She did the same performances in Los Angeles last month. I especially like this bit from the Times:
Ms. Williams was a strong singer on Tuesday. She can radically delay a word’s delivery with her thick voice; she used that effect sparingly and beautifully. And by the middle of the show, through her phrasing she was pressing down hard on the words, drawing them out and giving them an edge of uncomfortable persistence; she enlarges them so she can live in them.
I attended the opening “World Without Tears†and the “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road†shows and will post on them soon. I wish I had the Times staff but it’s just me out here!
CMA / AMA Best Artists – My View
So the Country Music Association and the Americana Music Association have recently released their nominees list for their respective awards and in an attempt to figure what passes for country music nowadays and what the heck “Americana” means I am going to compare a category they share…sort of.
CMA Entertainer of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Rascal Flatts
George Strait
Keith Urban
CMA Male Vocalist of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Josh Turner
Keith Urban
CMA Female Vocalist of the Year
Alison Krauss
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Carrie Underwood
AMA Artist of the Year
Joe Ely
Lucinda Williams
Patty Griffin
Todd Snider
Being good, progressive minded folk the Americana place the boys and the girls in one “artist” category. The CMA naturally plays it like a broken record with Chesney and Rascal Flatts nominated for the millionth time. I have a question, to qualify for EOTY shouldn’t you be entertaining? And I don’t mean in a comedic sense. And what is the difference between “Entertainer of the year” and Vocalist of the year” I mean all the nominees are vocalists,that’s what they do to entertain, sing. Is the CMA rewarding acrobatics, ripped biceps and hair gel as a separate category?
I like George Strait and think his 07 release “It Just Comes Natural” is good but not great. I like Brad Paisley somewhat but think he’s choosing the corn-ball and schmaltz cuts that are beneath him and his fine guitar playing to chase the dollar. I think Miranda Lambert is the best thing to happen to country in a long time and she has the good sense to cover excellent songwriters like Gillian Welsh. Alison Krauss is the one crossover artist here but she had to soften her bluegrass roots and get a make-over to get acceptance by the CMA crowd. Britney 2…er..I mean Carrie Underwood has the pipes but not the soul or courage to be interseting.
Joe Ely is a Texas legend and should when in any category he’s in. And even though I love Lucinda, I think “West” was a weak effort and shows that moving to L.A. will kill even a dignified soul.
I will use the CMA boy/girl dichotomy and ignore the useless EOTY category and play nice and not add other deserving artists like Elizabeth Cook and Wayne Hancock into the mix, and say:
Male Artist of the Year: Joe Ely
Female Artist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
New York Concert Calender
Some upcoming New York shows foe all you city Hillbillys and Betties.
Bowery Ballroom
Fri 09/14/07 Pieta Brown
Fri 09/14/07 Teddy Thompson
Sat 09/29/07 Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
Sat 09/29/07 The Alternate Routes
Wed 10/10/07 Jason Isbell
Wed 10/10/07 The Whigs
Tue 10/23/07 Shooter Jennings
Fri 10/26/07 Drive-By Truckers
Fri 10/26/07 Ryan Bingham
The Mercury Lounge
Sat 11/10/07 David Kilgour
Sat 11/10/07 Euros Childs
Sat 11/10/07 Laura Cantrell
Town Hall
Wed 09/26/07 Allison Moorer
Wed 09/26/07 Steve Earle
Tue 10/02/07 Fionn Regan
Tue 10/02/07 Lucinda Williams
Wed 10/03/07 Fionn Regan
Wed 10/03/07 Lucinda Williams
Thu 10/04/07 Fionn Regan
Thu 10/04/07 Lucinda Williams
Sat 10/27/07 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Sat 10/27/07 Jack Cooke
Sat 10/27/07 Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Lucinda Williams Talks to Rolling Stone
Lucinda Williams talks to Rolling Stone about her upcoming tour, getting hitched and heading back to the studio.
Currently on the road “in the hinterlands†of the Northeast — playing out-of-the-way gigs to extremely appreciative audiences – Williams and her backing trio have been prepping for the special shows, busting out rare cuts, some of which Williams hasn’t performed in over a decade. “The guys are rehearsing them at sound check and we’re tryin’ them out,†she says. “Last night we played “Big Red Sun Blues†and “The Night’s Too Long†[both from Lucinda Williams] and they sounded great.†She says she has a tendency to compare her earliest songs to her most recent. She says, “I’m thinking, ‘Boy, I’ve come a long way as a songwriter.’