Lucinda Williams, Orpheum Theatre, March 24, 2007
By JIM SULLIVAN | March 27, 2007
DARK ROOTS: No matter how rocking Williams gets, her touchstones remain “Delta blues, country, and folk.” |
“It’s not that often that a 54-year-old woman achieves her greatest success,’’ said Lucinda Williams from the Orpheum stage last Saturday, referring to the trajectory of her career. “It’s about the talent, about the work. Thanks for letting me into the fold.” That career was jump-started in 1998 by Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Mercury), an album that came out in the wake of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s hit of the Williams-penned “Passionate Kisses.” But the tide keeps rising. Williams — sporting a blond shag, baby-doll tunic, jeans, and brown leather jacket — sold out the Orpheum, and she drew from her latest, the mournful, pensive, and often ambient West (Lost Highway). But she didn’t emphasize it or even plug it. Before an encore of Skip James’s “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,” she made a point of restating her influences — “Delta blues, country, and folk — it’s all still there.” So, yes, on the Hal Willner–produced West, she does move toward Marianne Faithfull/Lou Reed territory. But she’s still entrenched in alt-country/roots rock.
Backed by guitarist Doug Pettibone, drummer Don Heffington, and new bassist David Sutton, she began quietly, seductively, with the soft sting of “Rescue,” and she ended that way too. These were literate, melancholy songs in the key of languid. Songs about loss, coping, wreckage. “Learning How To Live” was wrenching in both its pain and its acceptance. “Essence” began with a plea for a lover’s dominance and ended with the singer asking him to help her “get fucked up.”
The rocking came mid set; the highlights included “Come On,” which she described as “a take-off on ’70s cock rock.” She moved from strutting confidence to palpable fragility; the baggage, she makes it clear, is there, but so are the hopes and dreams. Even her most blistering rock has a melancholy subtext. She doesn’t give in to unbridled happiness; neither does she let the demons beat her down.
Related:
Marcia Ball, 30 lists, Joy, not jamming, More 
- Marcia Ball
New Orleans–style pianist Marcia Ball doesn’t need special guests to validate her rumba-boogie blues.
- 30 lists
30 things mentioned in the first issue of the Newpaper, 30 things that we miss, 30 things that weren't around 30 years ago, and more.
- Joy, not jamming
In 1992, Nigerian juju master King Sunny Adé and his African Beats played the Park Plaza Hotel ballroom as part of the Boston Globe Jazz & Blues Festival. What I remember most vividly is the hypnotic overlap of undulating guitar lines.
- MARK LEMHOUSE
Lemhouse transitions from solo blues-based songwriter to eclectic Americana explorer with his second album, sandwiching country, blues, bluegrass, and rock and roll into his intensely rhythmic electric/acoustic combo arrangements.
- All You Need is Love
Never less than fascinating and informative, although the narration tends toward the droll (it’s British, remember).
- Kind of blue
Roomful of Blues is headed back home, and the timing couldn’t be better.
- John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp spent his last two studio albums in experimental mode, inviting Chuck D and India.Arie aboard 2001’s Cuttin’ Heads and digging into unvarnished country blues on ’03’s Trouble No More .
- New Guitar Summit: Jay Geils, Duke Robillard, Gerry Beaudoin
This cool, sleek soundtrack for a night of cocktails, sophisticated banter, and, hell, maybe even nookie brings the elegance of ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s jazz blues crisply into the present.
- Bob Enos, 1947-2008
“He could always hit those high notes,” said Roomful’s former bandleader Greg Piccolo.
- Rae of light
Touted as the second coming of Erykah Badu and Billie Holiday by the London press, Corinne Bailey Rae is a twentysomething singer whose luxurious, lazy phrasing and sweet tone are closer to Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues .
- Los Lobos
How have this band of East LA wolves not only survived but thrived in the hostile midlands of popular music for 30 years?
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Entertainment, Music, Jazz and Blues, More
, Entertainment, Music, Jazz and Blues, Lucinda Williams, Blues Music, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Skip James, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Less
