#426 Lucinda Williams, 'Lucinda Williams' (1988)

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The eponymous third album by Lucinda Williams put her at the forefront of the Anericana movement. Williams struggled shopping the demo of this record around to labels as most felt it was either to rock to be country or too country to be rock. She was eventually signed to Rough Trade records who recognised the album for what it was; neither rock nor country nor folk nor blues. It was a new genre; Americana.

This album follows an 8 year break between Williams’ second and third album. Her voice flicks between that of a sweet Southern belle and one soaked in Jack Daniels. Her song, ‘Passionate Kisses,’ was later cover by Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1992 and earned Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country song. Amongst my favourites are ‘Crescent City,’ a song about New Orleans and ‘Side Of The Road.’ Williams blazed the way for alt-country artists such as Ryan Adams, Jason Isbell and all the rest that followed.

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