Talkin' With Lucinda Williams

Part One: Stuck in Limbo

The following is an edited version of an interview conducted with Lucinda Williams shortly after the release of her Rough Trade debut. It was originally published in KCMU's Wire in 1989--that's right, 17 years ago. I've tried to eliminate as much "chaff" from the piece--mine, not hers--as possible. Overall, it was a pleasure to chat with Williams. This was one of my first interviews and she made it easy. I'm grateful for that. I just wish I'd asked more questions about her music rather than its marketing, but I was working as the advertising/promotions coordinator for a local retailer at the time and that's where my head was at.

*****

I met Lucinda Williams when she was in Seattle recently, after playing a short, but excellent set opening up for the Cowboy Junkies (another hard-to-classify band if ever there was one), and these are some of the things we talked about.

First of all, I asked Williams what it was like growing up in Louisiana, in terms of the musical scene there. Basically, it didn't interest her much, she replied, because there weren't any "hip" roots-oriented bands coming up when she was there, such as the Blasters, Los Lobos, and X.

Wire: Is that why you moved to LA, because of bands like that?

Williams: Yeah, pretty--well, because I'd been in Austin [after leaving Louisiana and then, later, New York] for awhile, and I'd pretty much reached my limit there as far as what I could do.

One of the people Williams came in contact with, while in Austin, was Lyle Lovett. I asked her what she thought about the success and acclaim that Lovett has received lately, particularly in light of the fact that he is far from your typical country artist, mixing big band, blues, and other genres into a country-based stew.

Williams: That whole country/Nashville thing is pretty hard to figure out. I mean, I don't know--it's kind of a whole political thing. It's like, if you get signed out of Nashville or something... [Her voice trails off as she tries to find the right words.] The whole thing is like, if you get signed out of Nashville, then LA won't touch you.

Wire: Really?

Williams: You get stuck in these things, see? And that's why even when I was working with Pete Anderson [Short Sharp Shocked] he really, really insisted on me getting sucked into the Nashville 'thing,' because his experience had been with other artists...

[Those sessions were eventually scrapped, and Williams and Gurf Morlix ended up producing the latest album--more cheaply, too.]

Wire: He produced Dwight Yoakum?

Williams: Yeah, and Dwight got signed out of LA, and there's all this animosity, unfortunately, between Nashville and LA. It's really stupid.

Wire: That's weird.

Williams: So, if you get signed out of LA, Nashville goes, 'Oh well, you're an LA act.' And vice versa. So, before I had done this other demo where I got stuck in between, LA said, 'Well, it's a little too country and western; take it to Nashville.' Then they did, and Nashville said, 'Well, it kinda falls in the cracks between country and AOR...'

Wire: When was this?

Williams: Well, I was like stuck in limbo. This is like--I don't know--five or six years ago, like right after I moved to LA. So I'd just gone through this whole metamorphosis thing of like, 'Where am I supposed to be, what am I supposed to do,' and all this.

Wire: That's really--I think it seems unfair that an artist would have to question doing what they want to do.

Williams: But I mean, I can't explain the whole Lyle Lovett thing; I don't really understand. I guess with a lot of artists it's like, you know... The problem is, the question is: Where do you sign someone who doesn't really fit in either place? So sometimes I think they just make room for them, they just create a niche there. And I think that's kind of what they did with him. Even though he's not really country... I don't know, it's a mystery to me--the whole thing. None of it really makes much sense.

Click here for part two.



Endnote: Image from the AMG.