![\"Issue37-lucinda-williams\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Issue37-lucinda-williams.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nLucinda Williams has enjoyed a singular 36-year career that has included recording a dozen albums, collaborating with countless artists, and winning three Grammys. Yet the 61-year-old performer harbors no doubt her artistry is still on the ascendant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see myself as an anomaly,\u201d says the Louisiana-born artist as she releases Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone<\/i>, her first-ever double album, and her first release on her own Highway 20 label. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because I grew up around poets\u2014I remember my dad saying that poets aren\u2019t even considered at the height of their career until they\u2019re in their 50s and 60s. And my voice is the best it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucinda\u2019s dad, Miller Williams, is a respected poet, and he plays a prominent role in his daughter\u2019s new collection: \u201cCompassion,\u201d the leadoff track, is the first of his poems that Lucinda has ever set to music. Stark and haunting, it contains the line that became the album\u2019s title. \u201cMy dad loves it, and he\u2019s real proud,\u201d says Williams.<\/p>\n
As well he should be\u2014Williams has long been recognized as one of the reigning artists within the Americana genre. \u201cI was Americana before there was Americana,\u201d says Williams with a laugh. \u201cI had a hard time getting a record deal at first because everyone told me I fell through the cracks between country and rock. But I didn\u2019t want to pick one style. When I was coming up in the \u201960s, people were identified as artists, not as being part of a genre. Bob Dylan was Bob Dylan\u2014it didn\u2019t matter what he did. That\u2019s what I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams is especially comfortable fitting between those cracks where rock, country, blues and folk intersect\u2014all of which find a home within the music of Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone<\/i>. Williams avoids crafting her albums around specific themes\u2014and she has dry spells and periods when she goes through what she calls a \u201cwhoosh\u201d of writing. \u201cThat can last a week or 10 days,\u201d she says, \u201cwhen that\u2019s all I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new 20-song set, produced by Williams, her husband-manager Tom Overby and multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz, features an assortment of guests, including Tony Joe White, Bill Frisell, Ian McLagan and Jakob Dylan. With more room to stretch out and experiment over the course of two discs, Williams and her musicians took a more casual approach in the studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of spontaneity. We were going for the feel and not worrying about being so tight,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve still got a handful of songs left, which is good because I\u2019m not slowing down any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUCINDA WILLIAMS For one of Americana\u2019s most celebrated artists, the best is yet to come Lucinda Williams has enjoyed a singular 36-year career that has included recording a dozen albums, collaborating with countless artists, and winning three Grammys. Yet the 61-year-old performer harbors no doubt her artistry is still on the ascendant. \u201cI see myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2413,7660],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14663,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14661\/revisions\/14663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}