3 Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams ROUGH TRADE 1988, £12

You say: “I bought her selftitled release in the early ’90s for £2. Played it to death.” Gary Raine, via Facebook

The title makes it sound like a debut and despite those two Folkways albums, in a way it is. After eight years and no record deals – too edgy for country, too classic a songwriter for cowpunk – Lucinda signed with the only label that made her an offer: Rough Trade in the UK. She was living in LA, initially with her longtime boyfriend. He left, she stayed and wrote this album. It would be her breakthrough, particularly as a songwriter: I Just Wanted To See You So Bad; Big Red Sun Blues; The Night’s Too Long; Passionate Kisses (which Mary Chapin Carpenter covered and won a Grammy). A 25th Anniversary edition of the LP, released by Thirty Tigers in 2013, contained a second disc of 20 live and bonus tracks.