SONGS FROM HER ROCK’N’ ROLL HEART
Collaborators name their favourite Lucinda Williams song
JESSE MALIN “YOU’RE STILL STANDING THERE” TAKEN FROM STEVE EARLE’S ALBUM, FEEL ALRIGHT 1996
The first time I heard Lucinda was on Steve Earle’s song, “You’re Still Standing There”. It blew my mind and I needed to find out who she was! At the time I was good friends with Joey Ramone and I mentioned it to him. He said “Lucinda Williams? Oh, I know her.” He’d been in a songwriters circle with her and Graham Parker at the Bottom Line nightclub. He put us in contact and we’ve been great friends ever since.
MARGO PRICE “CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD” TAKEN FROM LUCINDA WILLIAMS’ ALBUM, CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD 1998
I remember hearing this album during the summer of 1998 when it came out. Me and all my friends used to “backroad”, which meant just driving around drinking on the gravel to avoid the local police. The title hooked me immediately because that’s what I was doing. It was one of those moments where everything clicked and I just got hooked on that album, Lucinda, her voice, her writing. It painted not only my picture and the picture of a million other American families and rebellious, restless teens, but it also held possibilities of where the gravel road could take me.
ANGEL OLSEN “GREENVILLE” BY LUCINDA WILLIAMS EMMYLOU HARRISNEIL YOUNG FROM THE ITUNES ALBUM, THE BRIDGE SCHOOL COLLECTION VOL 5
I started listening to her records mostly during the pandemic, but I had heard her hits throughout the years. The song that really got me into her was the version of “Greenville” [from Car Wheels...] that she did at a benefit concert of Neil Young’s school back in 1999. The combination of her voice with Emmylou’s is so great. It was an honour to sing on the new album. I don’t think she needed me to sing with her, but she really wanted to share something, and I thought it was really sweet. She’s a really special person.