American folk- country-blues legend Lucinda Williams is making her way to Vernon this summer.
Victoria’s High Tide Entertainment has just announced it is bringing Williams, a three-time Grammy award winner, to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre July 24 before her appearance at the Calgary Folk Festival.
Williams may not be as well known as some of her contemporaries, Emmylou Harris and Mary Chapin Carpenter, but she is well respected by fans and music critics for her personal, heartfelt songwriting style and crossover appeal.
“She’s pithy and penetrating, bruised but steadfast, proud of the grain and drawl of her voice. Her music places itself in a vanishing, idealized Southland where country, soul, blues and gospel all share a common vocabulary of twang,” reads a review in The New York Times.
Born in Louisiana, Williams started her career playing gigs in Austin and Houston, Texas before recording her first album, Ramblin’ on my Mind in 1978.
Now based in Nashville and L.A., she has built on her success, recording and performing both in rock and acoustic settings in a crossover of blues, country and folk music.
She has been nominated 12 times for a Grammy as both a songwriter and performer.
Her song, Passionate Kisses (performed by Mary Chapin Carpenter), won Williams her first Grammy for Best Country Song in 1994.
Her 1998 breakthrough album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, won her another Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while her song, Get Right with God, off her 2001 album Essence, won her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Williams has toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. She has collaborated with country legends Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle on numerous occasions, and appeared on the soundtrack to the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? with the track Cold, Cold Heart, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
She has also worked with the likes of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band, Elvis Costello, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and even Irish punk band Flogging Molly.
In September, Williams released her 11th studio album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, which has received critical acclaim.
Williams takes the stage with her band Buick 6 at the Performing Arts Centre July 24 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale and cost $63.25 to $69.25. Order them at the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, or at www.ticketseller.ca.
