I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS

...we've got the means to make amends. I am lost, I'm no guide, but I'm by your side. (Pearl Jam, Leash)

Friday, January 27, 2006

Lucinda Williams

This is really not a musician birthday blog, but the ever-changing celebrants offer a good reason to rotate who I feature. Yesterday was Lucinda Williams' birthday and I meant to post this but then I got lazy, what with all the uploading, the picture-finding. Whew. So today, here is a festive salute to the "agony aunt" of today's alt-country/americana blues sound.

I am not super-familiar yet with her work, I think I downloaded this track off someone's celebrity playlist on iTunes. Can't recall. But she is really great, and this track showcases her unique voice and rough gravelly sound. It is a pitch-perfect, rollicking wrencher about having a bit of trouble recognizing the end of a relationship, off her perfectly-descriptively titled 1998 album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. As one reviewer says of the album, "the entire Deep South is reduced to a sleepy small town filled with ex-lovers, dive bars, and endless gravel roads."

There is some *delicious* slide guitar (I think you have to say gee-tar with this one) throughout in the vein of Ben Harper, and a leg-slappin', toe-tappin' beat. Stand up and listen to this and if you can be still throughout, then I think your rhythm-appreciator-thingie is broken.

"Can't Let Go" - Lucinda Williams

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5 Comments:

At January 27, 2006 2:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Please--for the love of God--do NOT use the word "gee-tar" under any circumstances, especially if you are trying to give props to a Southern artist. It's the equivalent of "sho 'nuff" vis-a-vis African America.

 
At January 27, 2006 2:58 PM, Blogger heather said...

my people are from georgia. can't i say gee-tar? i thought i could. i thought i had the southern street cred.

 
At January 29, 2006 7:22 AM, Blogger annulla said...

Never take anonymous comments seriously; just consider them the pigeon droppings of blogging.

 
At February 02, 2006 10:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

PLEASE do not equate/intimate/obfuscate Lucinda Williams with a youngster (being as kind as possible here) like Ben Harper. - Ann Animus

 
At March 14, 2006 6:34 PM, Blogger Stacey said...

Ohhhhh Lu! She can rock it out for sure. Just saw her last week for a more subdued acoustic set but she still rocked. I don't think Lucinda would ever pronounce it "gee-tar" but the future isn't written yet. You may enjoy some artist reviews on my new blog http://chewingtheclef.blogspot.com/ Feel free to link up if you feel so inclined.

 

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