Lucinda Williams

This article is about the performer. For her eponymous album, see Lucinda Williams (album). For the athlete, see Lucinda Williams (athlete).

Lucinda Williams
Williams playing guitar onstage
Williams performing in 2009
Background information
Birth nameLucinda Gayl Williams
Born (1953-01-26) January 26, 1953 (age 71)
Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1978–present
Labels
Websitelucindawilliams.com

Lucinda Gayl Williams[a] (born January 26, 1953)[2] is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim.[3] Regarded as "an Americana classic",[4][5] the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994.[6] Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics.[7] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[8] later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".[9]

Williams' commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, an album presenting a broader scope of songs that fused rock, blues, country and Americana into a distinctive style that remained consistent and commercial in sound. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which includes the singles "Right in Time" and the Grammy nominated "Can't Let Go", became Williams' greatest commercial success to date. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA the following year, and earned her a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while being universally acclaimed by critics. Williams' next album, Essence, appeared in 2001 to further critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming her first Top 40 album on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 28. Featuring a more downbeat musical tone, with spare, intimate arrangements, Essence earned Williams three Grammy nominations in 2002: Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Get Right With God", which she won.[10]

One of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of her generation,[2] Williams has released a string of albums since that have earned her further critical acclaim and commercial success, including World Without Tears (2003), West (2007), Little Honey (2008), Blessed (2011), Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014), The Ghosts of Highway 20 (2016), and Good Souls Better Angels (2020). Among her various accolades, she has won three Grammy Awards from 17 nominations,[11] and has received two Americana Awards (one competitive, one honorary) from 11 nominations.[12] Williams ranked No. 97 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1999,[13] and was named "America's best songwriter" by Time magazine in 2002.[14] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked her the 79th greatest songwriter of all time.[15] In 2017, she received the Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctorate of Music Degree,[16] and ranked No. 91 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time.[17] In 2020, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road ranked No. 97 and Lucinda Williams ranked No. 426 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[18][19] She was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2021.[20] That same year, "Passionate Kisses" ranked No. 437 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[21]

  1. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (July 20, 2020). "Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams on Art and Empathy". New Yorker. Retrieved July 24, 2023. Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams—longtime friends and twin titans of so-called alternative-country
  2. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Artist Biography – Lucinda Williams". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  3. ^ France, Kim (December 1992). "Lucy in the Sky". Spin. Vol. 8, no. 9. p. 26. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  4. ^ Denselow, Robin (January 16, 2014). "Lucinda Williams: Lucinda Williams 25th Anniversary Edition – review". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  5. ^ Hermes, Will (January 16, 2014). "Lucinda Williams". Rolling Stone. No. 1200. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  6. ^ "The Grammy Winners" Archived November 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. March 3, 1994.
  7. ^ "The 1992 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. New York. March 2, 1993. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  8. ^ Christgau, Robert (March 2, 1993). "Pazz & Jop 1992: Dean's List". The Village Voice. New York. Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  9. ^ Christgau, Robert (2001). "Encore From a Utopia". The Village Voice. No. June 12. New York. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  10. ^ "Grammys 2002: The winners" Archived October 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. February 28, 2002.
  11. ^ "Artist: Lucinda Williams". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  12. ^ Ceremony search Archived May 11, 2020, at the Wayback Machine americanamusic.org. Americana Music Association. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  13. ^ "VH1: 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll". Rock on the Net. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  14. ^ "'Essence' of the South" Archived December 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. CNN/TIME. Retrieved on October 7, 2008.
  15. ^ "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time" Archived June 24, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on December 19, 2019.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference berklee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference rscounty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time > Car Wheels on a Gravel Road". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  19. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time > Lucinda Williams". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference austinhallfame was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time > Passionate Kisses". Rolling Stone. September 15, 2021. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved July 3, 2022.


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