Covington, KY – Madison 7/25/12 Set List

Yes, and let’s start with a quote from “lafayette” hself: when Lu announced that Doug will play the role of the bad boy on “Jailhouse Tears,” this fan on my right flank said simply, “Doug IS a bad boy.” I think this covers it.

Yes, good to see lafayette and stevarino again, plus meeting firecracker. Glad you mentioned the alternates, as “Those 3 Days” would have been a blast. Maybe in New York.

AFter “Bitter Memories,” Lu made the comparison of new songs to seeds again, then said Rosie Flores would kill this particular song, “kind of a Wanda Jackson thing.”

David Garza on “Joy” (with LU’s guitar) was said to be “kicking some serious ass.” It was true. He stood next to us for part of the main set, after a fine opener as sideman for Amy Cook, per usual this tour.

So I pass the torch to lafayette, rhon, and tonyg in the shows ahead. Time to get off the road and build up strength for the weeklong Big Apple residency ahead. No one should even tempt me with talk of lobster rolls or the small-scale glories of the Stone Mountain, ME venue. I’m vulnerable.

Tour debuts were “Crescent City,” “I don’t know how you’re living,” “Seeing Black” (!!!!), and The Stones cover.

Mr. Moderator, maybe you could combine these two interstate threads into one greater Cincy stream?

Review:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120726/ENT03/307260074/Lucinda-Williams-shows-off-classic-style-Madison?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Beginning with her overlooked 1980 release “Happy Woman Blues” and continuing on through modern-day classics like her 1988 self-titled album, 1992’s “Sweet Old World,” 1998’s “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” and beyond, Lucinda Williams has amassed a songbook of originals that few songwriters of her generation can match.

Now that songbook actually comes in book form, and she brought it to her show at the Madison Theater in Covington on Wednesday night for a little light reading.

To be accurate, it’s really a binder, not a book. She kept the binder on a music stand to her side and tried to sneak peeks throughout the night without being too obvious, though she knew the crowd could see what she was up to. When she took off her guitar and sang the torch song “Born to Be Loved,” it was just like watching Frank Sinatra sing off a teleprompter, if he had been born a Southern woman with a poet’s heart.

“Sorry about this thing,” said Williams, 59, waving a hand at the binder. “It’s my safety net. There’s too many lyrics now.”

It’s cool, Lucinda, only because your songs – all of them – are that good.

She kicked things off with two oldies: First, “Pineola,” a plainspoken tale about a suicide, setting a Southern Gothic mood present in many of her songs; then, “Crescent City,” a nostalgic tune that after Katrina has taken on another layer of meaning.

Backed by a three-piece band, Williams played more relatively recent songs – including songs that have yet to be released – than tunes from 20 years ago like “Pineola.” There was a new one in a classic country style called “Bitter Memory.” I was thinking Johnny Cash, with its freight-train rhythm and its “Folsom Prison Blues” guitar break. Lucinda had a more esoteric reference point, and she was correct. “Kind of reminds me of Rosie Flores,” she said, referring to the powerhouse Texas rockabilly singer. “She would kill it, wouldn’t she?”

She shared a little background on two newer songs, “Jailhouse Tears” from 2008’s “Little Honey,” and “Buttercup” from last year’s “Blessed.” It was no surprise to learn that each song was about a man in her life, as many tunes in her catalog start from that love-gone-bad place. The surprise was that the songs were about the same man. “Buttercup,” she said, “is kind of the final chapter.”

Three of the highlights were songs she didn’t write. Williams played “Can’t Let Go,” a “Car Wheels” cut written by Austin singer-songwriter Randy Weeks. The band, specifically guitarist Doug Pettibone, let loose on a version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “It’s Not My Cross to Bear,” with Williams leaving her front-and-center spot and assuming Gregg Allman’s stage-right position to give way to Pettibone’s epic solo.

During the encore, Williams noted that she and the band worked up a few new tunes in reaction to the Occupy movement. The one they played for the crowd could be the official song of the movement – the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth.”