Lucinda Williams

Seeing Lucinda Williams’ name lit up on the marquee at the Bluebird Theater was something special, but being in such close proximity to the living legend while she performed one of my all-time favorite songs was something else altogether. Quoted as saying she’d rather “play a few nights at the Fillmore than play one night at an arena,” the songwriter responsible for introducing me to another side of country music rarely finds herself in a venue as intimate as the Bluebird these days. She was right at home on that small stage though. Surrounded by her band, Buick 6, Williams took the opportunity to showcase material from the two albums she’s recently released on her new Highway 20 Records label, as well as choice tracks from across her illustrious 40-year career.

Buick 6 opened things up with their own set before joining Williams for the main event. Dressed all in black, with her boots, blonde disheveled hair, and heavy eye make-up, the woman we all came to see fit the part almost too perfectly. Many of her songs are autobiographical, so it makes sense that she would be the personification of her own words, but standing close enough to read the stories in the lines across her face was almost like being in the presence of a character; a character who just happened to step out of the pages of the songbook she kept next to her throughout the set.

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Lucinda Williams and Buick 6 blew into Norfolk's Norva theater last night with the force of the Cat 4 storm we (gratefully) missed. She sang old. She sang new. She sang for herself. She sang for her rockin, receptive Norva audience. She sang for all humankind. Buick 6 killed it and omg -- Honey Bee!

The intimate 1917 Norva contained it all, acoustics provided by a state-of-the-art sound system and engineered acoustical padding. Voted by Rolling Stone readers as the number one venue that rocks the hardest, the Norva is one of the best US stages, known for its great sound, intimate setting and backstage amenities

Speaking of backstage, the secret to a great time at the Norva is to eat at "F and M" on Granby before the show. Your dinner receipt plus show tickets will get you escorted in early. Pick your barstool and set up camp.

"Hot Blood," "Drunken Angel," "Joy," it was all there, longing and loud. Some reviewers have called Lucinda wooden in concert but I give her a 5/5: A flash of her sweet, dimpled smile as she thanked her audience, a great +2 encore and that amazing voice! She's the real thing. If you've listened to Lucinda's recordings for the decades she's devoted to her music, you need to treat yourself and see Lucinda live.

Grammy award winning country star Lucinda Williams is considered a modern day musical icon. She has been acclaimed as one of this centuries greatest songwriters by a number of esteemed publications and has influenced a huge number of contemporaries.

Still touring her successful discography, fans old and new rush to see the iconic performer. Despite Lucinda now being in her 60's, her gruff snarling vocal still sounds as good now as ever inside the venue. She performs with a talented supporting band who help to add a new dimension to some of the classic track such as 'Passionate Kisses'. Williams is still very much the captain of this ship as she commands the stage with guitar in hand and leads the audience through a setlist made up of some of her most recognisable work.

She also plays a tender rendition of the critically celebrated 'Jailhouse Tears'. The audience is not short changed at Lucinda's gig as she plays a 20 song strong setlist, although with 11 albums to condense she could have easily played for another 20 and the audience would have showed equal delight.

Great songwriter with a unique voice and a fantastic band. Show was sublime and enjoyable, while I knew some of her songs didn't know many but it did not matter as Lucinda is a great storyteller. Tapped into country and traditional but with wonderful rock and roll ingredients. Her band are amazing musicians and she seemed to really appreciate their prowess and was very generous in sharing the limelight with them. The lead guitar was inventive at all times and the drummer was doing amazingly clever things while the bass player was so solid and obviously brilliant and when she joined in on second guitar it was amazing. They seemed to really revere Lucinda as well. All in all it was a great night of music and she was so genuine and sweet with the audience which made it appear that she really appreciated the response she got from the Fort Lauderdale crowd.

Long term artists need to give some strong consideration to incorporating Lucinda's story-telling formate explaining the context of each song. We've all grown-up over decades around these songs and albums; weaving the stories around them kept the audience engaged and legitimately connected to the artist. The band was tight and a great backdrop to frame-up Lucinda as the spotlight.

Now, on the down-side ... She went political midway through and at the end of the show, sighting racism, inclusion, boarder wall, etc.

Lucinda, your music is generally about love, relationships, tragedy, moods and place. The left-coast audience generally ate-it-up your rants, but once again, you are providing entertainment at a high ticket price. Save your viewpoints for social media and just play your incredibly heart-felt and emotionally engaging music!!!

A slightly odd - small (good), but corporate (bad) - venue (Brooklyn Bowl) for Lucinda, and she wasn't comfortable there are first, although in part due to the mediocre sound. However, that improved, as did Lucinda's mood, and she delivered a fantastic performance over almost 2 hours, with songs from across her career, in addition to covers of The Clash and Neil Young in the encore.

She really does now how to rock, with her smoky voice and fabulous three piece band (great that she let virtuoso guitarist Stuart Mathis stretch out on some breathtaking solos) producing some down and dirty, smouldering, relentless country blues rock, notably on 'Essence' and 'Foolishness.'

She played the next night too - if I hadn't had another gig on that night, I would have gone along to that as well, she was that good.

Short & Sweet...
Lucinda's 9/29 concert at the Variety Playhouse(Atlanta) found her in fine form. Aside from forgetting (and not finding)lyrics the show went off without a hitch and the 2 new songs she performed from her upcoming album (Jan.2016)were excellent,particularly "Ghost Of Hwy.20". Her encores were somewhat surprising as she doesn't do a lot of covers.Her back to back covers of songs by Robert Johnson & The Clash (!)were wonderful.Her opening (and backing)band,Buick 6,went from competent as an opener to fiery as as her band.I'm not in the rating business but if I had to I'd give this 2nd night of her Atlanta dates a 9 & 1/2 of a possible 10! Good to see you again Lucinda.Come back and see us real soon!

This was my 4th time seeing Lucinda.
Not her best show but still better than most of the artists out there.
She always has a top notch band and this time was no exception. Guitar, bass and drummer known as Buick 6 were amazing and just about every song showed them off.

Lucinda seemed a bit off, not sure if she was drunk or tired but she wasn't her usual chatty self.
Maybe it was the fact that she recently buried her father or the fact that she was fresh off a cruise ship and was tired.

She did give the crowd their money's worth though. Playing 21/2 hours with no breaks, 2 encores and a terrific opening act, Noah Gunderson.

Lucinda Williams is a legendary songwriter and performer. She played a nice cross section of her songs from over the years supported by an extremely strong band, featuring Stuart Mathis from The Wallflowers on guitar. If you're expecting some weepy country songs, you'll get 'em, but also expect her and this band to rock your socks off. The highlight for me was a cover of Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World. Lucinda is 61, but the way she and the band plays, you'd think they were a hot new band on the road to make new fans. She's not to be missed.

Lucinda and her band Buick 6 were outstanding last night at the Anthem in DC. They work together so well and they enjoy it. Good range of songs from through out her career. It was all highlight but I particularly enjoyed Out of touch, Essence, Changed the locks and her song for the times Foolishness. Definitely my favorite artist at the moment. She shared the headline with Drive By Truckers and it is one of the greatest mysteries of the age as to why I have never seen them before. Lesson for everyone - join forces with Lucinda. You know it makes sense.