As her latest visit to Australia gets underway Lucinda Williams spoke to Brian Wise about the tour with Steve Earle. She also discusses recovering from a stroke, her new album Stories from a Rock’n’Roll Heart due in June (the first single ‘New York Comeback with guests Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen has just been released) and her memoir which is published in the USA on April 25 (and July 5 in Australia.
Are you going to be doing anything on stage together with Steve or you just doing your own separate performances? How does that work?
We usually sit in. A lot of times he’ll come up and sit in with me on ‘Drunken Angel’ and he plays harmonica on that one part. Well, I mean, he did on the album. That’s what he did. So he comes up and plays harmonica on this one part and sings on the chorus on the refrain. So, you never really know with him. He likes to be spontaneous. And I do too.
You recently played what? The Outlaw Country cruise with him, didn’t you?
We did that and we usually always do, when we do those now Steve hosts the Writers in the Round thing with different singer songwriters. So, we did one of those.
Now in your performances at Blues Fest and in BluefestMelbourne, are you going to be previewing any songs from the forthcoming album?
Definitely. We’re doing songs from the new one, and then certain songs from, I like to try to cover a little bit from all of them as much as possible.
And we’re excited to see you be with Buick Six again.
Oh, Buick Six, yep. They’re already here, so they’re looking forward to it and we’re all looking forward to it.
I was lucky enough to see you last September at the Americana Awards where you came on stage and did a song. How are you feeling, because you’ve been in the last few years, had a few traumatic experience as Steve has as well? How are you feeling now?
I know we’re all getting older. Now we’re getting those old people’s ailments. I’m fine. I feel fine though. I did a whole bunch of rehab is the thing and I jumped right into that pretty much right after the stroke. They had me in the hospital. The doctors got me into rehab right away. Then after I got out of the hospital I had therapists come to the house and work with me there. So, it’s been a constant, I’ve been doing a lot of that and I’m sure that’s what’s helped so much.
Are you playing guitar or are you not playing guitar yet?
No, I’m still not. But it hasn’t affected my voice. I’m singing. My voice is as strong as ever and a lot of people have been saying they think it’s even better than it was before.
That’s interesting.
The band backs me up on stage when we play live. They do a good job of supporting me musically.
Well, having seen you last September, I can attest to the fact that your voice is as good as ever. It’s a bit of a coincidence that almost exactly the same time you had your stroke, I had a serious accident too. It has an effect on you, doesn’t it?
It really does. It takes it out of you. I was texting with a friend of mine earlier and I said, he said, ‘Well, you’re a tough chick,’ and all this. And I said, ‘It’s been a tough climb back up the mountain. It just takes a long time to recover.’ The recovery is just what’s so hard. I still have trouble walking.
But it’s great that you are performing, and by the way, happy birthday for January.
Thank you. 70!
You hit a milestone as well, didn’t you?
I made it to 70. That’s not bad.
It’s pretty amazing to think that your first album was released, what, 44 years ago.
I know.
… 25 years since Car Wheels, isn’t it?
I know, I know.
So, as I said, I saw you last September at Americana. Your voice sounded fantastic. We’re looking forward to the new album but we’re also looking forward to your memoir. Who finally convinced you to write your memoir?
Well, a lot of people had been suggesting it for a long time and just saying, ‘You should write a book, you should write a book.’ And I think probably because they knew I was always telling stories when I would play live around my songs. All my songs had all these interesting stories behind them. So, I think that’s what made people think I should write a book, because I had all these stories to tell. And then I was offered a publishing deal with a company in New York, and that’s pretty much what sealed it. Then they approached me and said, ‘We want to put a book out of yours.’
(The full interview will appear in the July.August edition of Rhythms).