Culture
Grammy Award-Winner Returns to Stuart’s
By: Mark Hellenberg
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Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams returns to Stuart’s Opera House this Thursday for her third appearance at the venue and her first with her band, Buick 6.
Born in Lake Charles, La., Williams was raised by her professor father, the poet Miller Williams. She first made her mark on the Austin and Houston music scenes in the early 1970s as a singer-songwriter, recording her first album, Ramblin’, in 1978 for just $250.
Her third album, Lucinda Williams (1988), included the song “Passionate Kisses” which garnered Grammy Awards for both Williams and singer Mary Chapin Carpenter (Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, respectively).
“Passionate Kisses” increased Williams’ visibility and reputation as a songwriter with artists such as Tom Petty and Emmylou Harris subsequently covering her material.
Williams has been nominated for a total of 15 Grammys and won in the Contemporary Folk Album category in 1999 for the critically acclaimed release, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. That album helped define the Americana sound of the period and went gold that same year.
Instead of being stereotyped as the queen of alt-country, Williams chose to change her sound and stretch her boundaries as a singer and a songwriter. Three years after Car Wheels, she received her third Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song “Get Right with God” from the album Essence.
To date, Lucinda Williams has 10 studio releases under her belt, with the most recent being this year’s Blessed. Having developed a loyal and extensive fan base over the years, she recorded a series of concerts in New York City and Los Angeles.
These live recordings, recorded over five nights in each city, captured five complete albums (World Without Tears, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams and Essence) in their entirety. The recordings are available on her website www.lucindawilliams.com.
Singer-songwriter Amy Cook will open Thursday’s show at 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.stuartsoperahouse.org.