Concert Preview
Williams is a marvel of grit, grace

By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic

DANNY CLINCH Dylanesque Lucinda Williams, 51, hit her stride with 1998's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road."

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Last month, The New York Times Book Review asked Lucinda Williams to write about Bob Dylan's lyrics as poetry. It was a perfect match of subject and writer. Not only does Williams' own songwriting reflect Dylan's influence — both are eloquent, passionate, emotional, challenging and witty — but they also share similar singing styles.

Like Dylan, Williams doesn't have a good singing voice in the conventional sense. But, again like him, her voice is perfect for her songs. It cracks and rumbles, whispers and yelps. She deliberately overdoes her drawl to underscore her Southern roots, mealymouths some words to convey their unpleasantness and carefully pronounces others to show that she loves them — particularly the names of places. Her edgy, knowing singing style adds drama and mystery to her songs, and compels you to listen.

Both artists draw from the deep wellsprings of folk, country and blues traditions, and shape them into a style of their own. While Dylan became a phenom right out of the gate, more than 40 years ago, Williams, 51, was a late bloomer. She recorded her first album more than 25 years ago, but didn't hit her stride until 1998 when she released her masterpiece, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." Since then, she has become one of the most important and acclaimed artists in America.

Onstage, she cuts an intriguing figure. A tiny wisp of a woman, she nevertheless conveys a toughness, with her battered straw cowboy hat, form-fitting black-leather pants, scuffed boots and skin-revealing blouses. Bottle-blond bed hair springs every which way from under that hat. She wears lots of makeup.

Among her most notable songs are the fun and breezy "Passionate Kisses"; the slouching, reeling "Drunken Angel"; the defiant, hard-rocking "Joy"; the angry, forlorn "Those Three Days"; the cool, atmospheric "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten"; and the poetic and beautiful "I Envy the Wind."

Williams' songs appeal to adults because of the intelligent, mature lyrics and subject matter. ZooTunes shows are always crawling — and tumbling, jumping, running, screaming and chasing — with kids. They won't understand Williams, but they never pay much attention to the music anyway. Their parents, however, will understand, and maybe even identify.

Concert preview Lucinda Williams, 6 p.m. Wednesday, ZooTunes, Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., Seattle; sold out (information, 206-615-0076 or www.zoo.org).

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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