Austin, TX @ the Paramount Theatre, Wed., Jan. 16, 2013

Wow! What a wonderful show! Lucinda and Doug made magic. I thought their version of “Jailhouse Tears” was much better than the campy version on the album and “Essence” hit a new high. The whole show was a delight.

I think this was something like the set list, but I probably got the sequence scrambled as the card I was scribbling titles on in the dark filled up and I ended up having to rely on memory for order later.

Lake Charles
Can’t Let Go
People Talkin’
Place in my Heart
World without Tears
Metal Firecracker
Blue
I Envy the Wind
Over Time
Make the World Go Away
Drunken Angel
Bitter Memories
Jailhouse Tears
Joy
Something Wicked this Way Comes
Changed the Locks
Essence
Honey Bee
Crescent City
This Old Guitar
Blessed
Get Right with God

Lake Charles was dedicated to Mary Margaret Moser, who was with Clyde Woodward when he died (in her blurb in the Austin Chronicle this week, Moser mistakenly referenced a new Lu song as “Bittersweet.”) This song ended in a cough, which Lu attributed to Clyde’s ghost (“he’s visited me once or twice”).

Can’t Let Go was dedicated to MN native turned Austinite Randy Weeks.

Metal Firecracker was introduced by Lu saying her memoirs will, in time, reveal the identity of the song’s inspirer. He was “one of my bass player boyfriends,” who apparently once urged her to keep it on the lowdown while touring, then abandoned her shortly after.

The slash mark on the setlist issue was revisited, as Lu played both “Blue” and “I Envy the Wind” when she was supposed to pick one (“all these ballads back to back”). Look for a possible special guest on “Envy” coming up.

Rosie Flores (in house) and Wanda Jackson were invoked in front of “Bitter Memory.” Lu said the “older singer” from the series Nashville will likely sing it before the season is out. Maybe Connie Britten (sp?), from Friday Night Lights? By the way, the frontwoman and her manager seem to be watching that football series on the bus.

Gram Parsons was again mentioned in front of Drunken A.

As for Essence, it was prefaced with “We don’t really need to explain this one all that much. It’s about sex, drugs, and rock n roll.” After it, Lu said “who would have thought we could rock on with just two guitars?”

The whole tribe (x 4) of the Kenneth Brian Band played on “Get Right,” with Lillie Mae Rische adding a sparkling violin part.

@tonyg wrote:

Thanks for the report and the tease. 😮

Hope you are once again warm and unbruised, Tony.

One of the bits of news (at least it was news to me) was that Lucinda had written a song for Connie Britton to sing on the TV series “Nashville”. (If I’ve gotten that part mangled in recollection, shame on me.)

She mentioned she’d sent the song in and T Bone Burnett had then asked her if she couldn’t add some more to it. What came out had a bridge which she said she said that she had to admit sounded better. At any rate, a Lucinda Williams song may make it to ABC’s program, bridge and all.