Lucinda Williams | Artist
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, blues, and country music singer, songwriter and musician born 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams, and amateur pianist Lucille Fern Day, Williams has become one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of her generation, releasing a string of albums that have earned her critical acclaim and commercial success. 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. By her early 20s, she 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, Ramblin' on My Mind, was a collection of country and blues covers which went nowhere. Three excellent albums followed with Happy Woman Blues, Lucinda Williams, and Sweet Old World. All these early works, based on traditional country and blues styles were hailed by critics but comercially unsuccessful. That all changed with the excellent Car Wheels on a Gravel Road album from 1998, which won a Grammy Award for best album and placed Williams in the pantheon of contemporary Americana artists. The album remained on the chart for over five months, and Rolling Stone magazine called the record an "alternative country masterpiece", ranking it No.304 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Williams followed up this success with Essence released in June 2001. Featuring a less produced, more down-tuned approach both musically and lyrically, Essence moved Williams further from the country music establishment, while winning more 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." In 2003 Williams released another superb album with World Without Tears, topping off a string of stand-out albums released between 1988-2003: Lucinda Williams (1988), Sweet Old World (1992), Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998), Essence (2001), and World Without Tears (2003). Add to this list the excellent Live at The Fillmore (2005) live set. The artist continues to release consistently fine albums to the present day, she tours constantly, and is an excellent on-stage performer, with her band Buick 6. In 1986, Williams married Long Ryders drummer Greg Sowders, but the couple divorced within eighteen months. In September 2009 she married Tom Overby, an executive from Best Buy's music department, who is also her manager. In 2023, she released her autobiography titled Don't Tell Anyone the Secrets I Told You: A Memoir. The book details her traumatic childhood, her relationships with her father and mother, and her struggle to forge a sustainable career in the music industry.
Artist Website: lucindawilliams.com
Featured Albums: Lucinda Williams
Related Artists: Buick 6
Collections: Women of Note
