LUCINDA WILLIAMS -  Blessed

By Jeanette Madden
Staff Writer

I would like to start out by saying I love Lucinda Williams. I haven’t always loved her. In fact, it’s a new love, grown from knowing her fans and hearing music from her latest release ‘Blessed’. And it became true love after I spoke with her for this story. Not only is she a legend, a real musician’s musician, she is an honest, loving, self-aware woman who when she laughs, you can’t help but laugh along with her.

Ms. Williams will be playing the grand old Fargo Theatre on May 17 for what she believes to be her first ever show in Fargo. And we had a nice, long conversation about her recent solo performances, her new album Blessed, and what being an artist means to her.

High Plains Reader:  Recently you’ve played some shows solo. How did that work out for you?

Lucinda Williams:  I really liked it. What partly prompted that idea was a spontaneous solo show I did in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The end of the year last year Tom [Overby, Williams’ husband and manager] and I were in Nashville and we had some extra time so we decided to go visit my folks in Fayetteville right after that. I guess George’s [Majestic Lounge] got wind that I was going to be in town and they reached out and asked what would we think about coming and playing? We said it sounded cool and I didn’t even have my guitar with me at the time but we knew we could throw something together. They announced it and it sold out the first day, I think. So they asked if I wanted to play another night and I said okay so I played two nights there. People loved it. It was packed and my folks came.

So when we were planning the tour for this year and the first tour with the band was in Toronto with Levon Helm, Tom said he thought it would be cool to book a line of acoustic shows leading up to between L.A. and Toronto. Doing something different and the fans can come hear the songs in a different way. People really loved it. Very intimate and now during the sets, a lot of times I’ll do a song or two by myself, kind of break things down a little bit.

HPR:  Do you consider yourself more of a performer or songwriter, or both?

LW:    A songwriter. The performing part I worked on it - not worked on it consciously but got a little less nervous on stage.  I let my goofiness or my nervousness become part of the thing [laughs]. It started a long time ago. I wasn’t going to be a “performer” like have everything very staged. Over the years I was very fortunate because the kind of fan base I have they’re not concerned about that. When I first moved out to L.A. in the early days people would say I was really good but I needed to work on my stage presence. I was really worried about it like it was really important. That hasn’t been one of my strong points over the years and why I say I’m definitely a songwriter first.

HPR:  Some of the best shows or performances I’ve seen in the last year have been by people who are out there and they’re just so honest.

LW:    Especially for this type of music, more this singer/songwriter kind of thing. Even when I’m with my band I’m still approaching the songs from that perspective, like it’s about the song and getting the song across. I’ve gotten better over the years. I used to be so shy I would just kind of look down at the floor but over the years I got more confident because the fan base grew and they felt like family and friends and I got to be friends with a lot of the fans. I felt more comfortable and I’d tell stories about the songs.

HPR:  What’s kept you going all this time, fresh and relevant?

LW:    I guess it’s a combination of things. I have a youthfulness [laughs]. I’ve always had that, the age is just a number mentality and I do consider myself an artist in so many ways. I grew up around true artists, real porch poets, creative thinkers and they didn’t stop. My dad’s eighty-one and he’s still writing, still doing his thing. As an artist, that’s what you think of first. You don’t think of performing, it’s just about creating. That shouldn’t stop. That’s part of who I am and I can’t imagine stopping.

HPR:  Tell me about your album Blessed. I was reading about it and your album Little Honey and I saw where you said you had had more happy moments on Little Honey so how did you transition from that to Blessed?

LW:    Everybody described Little Honey as the ‘happy album’ simply due to the fact that I had met Tom right before we started recording Little Honey so everybody assumed that most of the songs were written about Tom. What people didn’t realize was that the majority of songs for Little Honey were written during the time of West before I even met Tom. When I was doing the demos for West I was writing and writing and writing and I had enough songs for two albums. Little Honey was kind of like West part two. The other part of it, which was so ridiculous, is questions coming out again, because I had met Tom, they start throwing these questions out about if I’m still going to be able to write songs, what’s going to happen now.

They don’t understand. I’m an artist first and if you’re an artist you don’t stop, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or you’re poor, if you’re with somebody or you’re not. All of those things can affect your life but you don’t not write anymore. Its one of those things that I find a very pedantic perspective, like the idea that I would just stop writing or what am I going to write about. This album is my way of saying you know what? Here, check it out. This is what I’ve done since Tom. Here you go, enough said, no explanations needed. I feel relieved and refreshed now with this new group of songs because I can say look, there’s a lot to write about besides unrequited love.

See five short videos from Ms. Williams’ song Blessed here:
http://tiny.cc/Williams1
http://tiny.cc/Williams2
http://tiny.cc/Williams3
http://tiny.cc/Williams4
http://tiny.cc/Williams5

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If You Go:

What: Lucinda Williams
Where: Fargo Theater
When: Tues. May 17th -Doors open at 6:30pm with show beginning at 7:30pm
Info: All Ages, reserved seating. Tickets $35-$45 +fees. Ph. 701-205-3182 or jadepresents.com