''Lucinda Williams'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) 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 ...

, released in 1988, by

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

. An

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

and

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

record about the complexities of romantic relationships, ''Lucinda Williams'' was met with widespread critical acclaim upon release and has since been viewed as a leading work in the development of the

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

movement. The album was produced by Williams, with

Dusty Wakeman Donald "Dusty" Wakeman is an American rock/country music producer and engineer based in Burbank, California. Wakeman is also credited as a bass player on many recordings. Dusty has worked with Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, Buc ...

and

Gurf Morlix Gurf Morlix (born 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and music producer. Career Born in Buffalo, New York, Morlix moved to Texas in 1975 and performed with Blaze Foley. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and joined Lucinda Williams's band. H ...

, and features the first appearance of "

Passionate Kisses "Passionate Kisses" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. It was released in 1989 as the fourth single from her third album, ''Lucinda Williams'' (1988). The song was famously covered by Mary Chapin Car ...

", a song later recorded by

Mary Chapin Carpenter Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

for her album ''

Come On Come On ''Come On Come On'' is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Mary Chapin Carpenter. Seven of its tracks became ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles hits in 1992, 1993, and 1994. They were, chronologically, "I Feel Lucky" at #4, "N ...

'' (1992), which garnered Williams her first

Grammy Award for Best Country Song The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, except if the artist is also the songwriter. There ha ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Music and lyrics

Before Williams was signed by

, she had struggled shopping her demo of the album: "The L.A. people said, 'It's too

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

for

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

.' The Nashville people said, 'It's too rock for country.'" Rough Trade founder

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978. Biography Travis wa ...

said of signing Williams in 1987, "We were big fans of the Southern literary tradition. We recognized that Lucinda was writing serious songs, but with the wit and humor of real rock'n'roll." According to ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' magazine's Keith Harris, ''Lucinda Williams'' has since been classified as

, while

WFUV WFUV (90.7 FM) is a non–commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Fordham University, with studios on its Bronx campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. WFUV first went on the air ...

's Claudia Marshall called it a

record that fuses country,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

, and rock music. With its synthesis of folk, rock,

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

, and

Cajun music Cajun music (french: Musique cadienne), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem w ...

Nigel Williamson Nigel Williamson (born 1954) is a British journalist. Biography Educated at University College London, Williamson worked as a reporter on ''Tribune'' (1982–84) and was then briefly its literary editor (1984) before becoming editor (1984� ...

of ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' said it may be seen as one of the earliest records in the alternative country scene.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, writing in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', called it a blues record and remarked that Williams plays "joyously uncountrypolitan blues".

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

wrote in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', "like the music, which drifts between the lonesome worlds of country and blues, the lyrics can't be pinned down: They speak of the ambivalence that shades love and loss."

Release and reception

''Lucinda Williams'' was released by Rough Trade in 1988 to rave reviews from critics. It was voted the 16th best album of the year in ''The Village Voice''s annual

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics poll. In a review for the newspaper, Christgau, giving the album an "A−" grade, called Williams a passionate but grounded songwriter and wrote that, apart from the great " I Just Wanted to See You So Bad" and "

", the rest of the album is good and relies on "a big not enormous, handsome not beautiful voice that's every bit as strong as the will of this singer-by-nature and writer-by-nurture". He ranked the album sixth-best in his list for the poll. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine's Steve Pond gave ''Lucinda Williams'' three-and-a-half out of five stars in a contemporary review and felt the unadorned musical approach occasionally exposes some unpleasant lyrics and hesitant singing, but it also makes Williams sound like an honest narrator to listeners as she avoids clichés and evasive language in her songwriting. Rating the album seven out of ten in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Stuart Bailie deemed it an "encouraging" work whose "bluesy and countrified" material shows that Williams is skilled at interpreting traditional musical styles with "a bright, often contemporary swing". After the mainstream success of Williams' fifth album ''

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road ''Car Wheels on a Gravel Road'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. The album was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, ...

'', ''Lucinda Williams'' was reissued with bonus tracks in 1998, and by January 2000, it had sold 100,000 copies in the United States. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Vik Iyengar, ''Lucinda Williams'' has been "recognized as a classic" since it was first released. Iyengar saw Williams as a meticulous composer whose voice and tough perspective work well with her music's mix of country, blues, folk, and rock styles on the album: "In addition to writing strong melodies, Williams is an amazing songwriter with a knack for writing a lyric that acknowledges the complicated nature of relationships while cutting right to the heart of the matter." In ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004), David McGee and Milo Miles said she had progressed astonishingly over her previous work, transitioned confidently into rock music, and made her songs more interesting with darker lyrics: "There's not a false step, and the depth of feeling is powerful." In 2005, ''Spin'' ranked ''Lucinda Williams'' at No. 39 on its list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985 to 2005. Upon the album's 25th anniversary rerelease in 2014,

Will Hermes Will Hermes (born December 27, 1960 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City) is an American author, broadcaster, journalist and critic who has written extensively about popular music. He is a longtime contributor to ''Rolling Stone'' and to National Pu ...

of ''Rolling Stone'' credited it for being at the forefront of the

movement, and

Robin Denselow Robin Denselow is a British writer, journalist, and broadcaster. Education Denselow was educated at Leighton Park School, a boys' Quaker boarding independent school (now co-educational) in Reading, Berkshire, followed by New College, Oxford, wher ...

called it "an Americana classic" in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', while Stephen M. Deusner wrote for CMT that it is "a roots-rock landmark, ground zero for today's burgeoning Americana movement". ''Lucinda Williams'' was ranked No. 426 in ''Rolling Stone''s 2020 edition of its " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Track listing

All tracks written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted.

25th anniversary re-issue

On January 14, 2014, the album was re-issued on Lucinda Williams' own label. It includes the original 12-track album, and a bonus disc featuring a live concert from the Netherlands, recorded on May 19, 1989, and six additional live tracks that also appeared on the 1998 reissue. All songs written by Lucinda Williams, unless noted otherwise. ; Live at Effenaar, Eindhoven, Netherlands, May 19, 1989

Personnel

* Lucinda Williams – lead vocals, acoustic guitar *

– vocals, electric 6- and 12-string guitars, acoustic guitar, mandolin, dobro, pedal steel, lap steel, 6-string bass * Dr. Johnny Ciambotti – Fender three-string bass, stand-up bass, Kramer-Ferrington bass * Donald Lindley – drums ;Additional musicians * Skip Edwards – keyboards *

John "Juke" Logan John "Juke" Logan (September 11, 1946 – August 30, 2013) was an American electric blues harmonica player, musician, singer, pianist and songwriter. He is best known for his harmonica playing on the theme music for television programs (''Home I ...

– harmonica * Doug Atwell – fiddle * Steve Mugalian – washboard * Chris Gaffney – accordion *

Jim Lauderdale James Russell Lauderdale (born April 11, 1957) is an American country, bluegrass, and Americana singer-songwriter. Since 1986, he has released 31 studio albums, including collaborations with artists such as Dr. Ralph Stanley, Buddy Miller, and ...

– backing vocals * Pat Quinn – backing vocals ;Technical *Joanna Spock Dean - executive producer *Joanna Spock Dean, Lucinda Williams - artwork concept *Greg Allen - photography

Charts

* Did not chart in US when first released in 1988. Chart performance when reissued in 2014.

References

External links

* *
Lucinda Williams Official Website
{{Authority control Lucinda Williams albums 1988 albums Rough Trade Records albums