On Lucinda

Started my day with the new Lucinda Williams record, West.

The album starts quietly, with Lucinda taking her time stepping in. Once she does, though, it is unmistakably Lucinda. Hearing her voice is like coming home. It is warmth and memories and a sense of place.

Lucinda binds together many parts of my life. Her 1988 release (Lucinda Williams) may have been the first record that my bother, sister, and I all liked. “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad,” was my anthem as I lived in a closet-sized room (the “Cave”) in Chicago, dreaming of warmer climates, and then of my future wife.

The wife and I would later re-write many of the songs on Sweet Old World to be about our two dogs. Lucinda was the highlight of countless SxSW festivals. She made the cover of THLS 2005 (photo credit: J. Roosevelt), and has graced many many THLS compilations. And she adorned the mantle of the Roosevelt Street house before it was torn asunder.

The new record has met with mixed critical reviews. I thought 2005’s Live @ the Fillmore was a terrible disappointment (2 discs’ worth!). But even if West ends up disappearing into the depths of the ipod, there is no forgetting the first warbles and moans and all that those sounds have meant over the years.