7B: Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams was born in 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Question — This is between Houston and New Orleans. What body of water is this near?) Her music is a blend of country and the blues.
She’s not related to Hank Williams, but he was a big inspiration. Besides their last name, they have other things in common: (1) They both grew up in the South; (2) They both were known as one of the best songwriters of their day; (3) As kids, they both had spina bifida. (Do you remember what that is?)
Hank Williams worked fast. He wrote hundreds of songs and was world-famous by the time he was 28. Lucinda takes her time. Sometimes she takes several years to write and record an album. She’s a perfectionist. (Question 1 — What’s a perfectionist? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Are you a perfectionist?)
Lucinda’s first album came out in 1978. It included a Hank Williams song called “Jambalaya.” It’s set in southern Louisiana. “Jambalaya” and “crawfish pie” are foods from that region. They have a great language and accents in southern Louisiana. Here’s Hank’s version.
Now listen to Lucinda’s.
Lucinda grew up Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Her dad was a poet and literature professor. Her mom was a pianist. Do you think this influenced Lucinda? Here she is talking about what she learned from her dad.
Here’s another song that sounds like Louisiana, called “Lafayette.” This kind of melody is very common in southern Louisiana.
Her biggest album was Car Wheels On a Gravel Road. It came out in 1998, when she was 45. It took three years of work. She kept quitting and then starting over. She wanted it to be perfect.
Here’s a song from that album called “Can’t Let Go.” Watch the guitarist, starting about 1:40. Look at his left hand. He’s playing a “bottle-neck slide,” which gives the guitar a kind of fluid sound. It got its name from old blues musicians who used a broken bottleneck on their fingers.
One of her most recent albums is called The Ghosts of Highway 20. Highway 20 runs through the American South – from South Carolina to West Texas. Listen to the song. How do you think her voice has changed over the years?
Bonus video: If you want to geek out on the bottle-neck slide, here’s a quick lesson.
Answer:
1 — A “perfectionist” is someone who wants everything to be perfect, no matter how long it takes. That’s good, because you’ll do good work. But if you let it, it can be frustrating — it can try your patience.