Williams exudes earthy emotions
By Brett Milano
Friday, July 27, 2007 – Updated: 12:34 AM EST
Most artists seem to mellow with time, but Lucinda Williams just keeps getting raunchier. Last night she delivered a little bit of mournful country and a whole lot of guitar-slinging rock, including what has to be one of the summer’s sexiest performances.
“Unsuffer Me,” the standout track from her most-recent album “West,” was the centerpiece of last night’s sultry set at the Bank of America Pavilion. It’s a lowdown, slow grind of a song about longings that are partly spiritual but mostly carnal. Williams put down her guitar to undulate in front of the mike, using all her best come-hither growls. The tune peaked twice, each time with Williams’ shouts leading into guitarist Doug Pettibone’s power chords. Each time through it had both male and female fans screaming like they were watching a teen idol instead of an alt-country hero.
Williams has never been a timid performer – that’s part of her charm. When she sings about death, the sense of foreboding comes through. Funerals figured into two songs played early on with the Southern-gothic “Pineola” and the newer, more matter-of-fact “Fancy Funeral.” Nor does she hold back on the upbeat songs. Last night, “Unsuffer Me” was followed by a little-known Fats Domino number, “I Love My Life,” which sounded bawdier than Domino probably intended.
She even got away with covering one of the most macho country standards, Willie Nelson’s “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” which led off a long and freewheeling encore.
Instead of sticking with her newest material, as she’s done at recent gigs, Williams played something close to a greatest-hits set, pulling out old favorites including “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” and “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten.” (Oddly, she referred to a lyric book for both of those.) These and other oldies were transformed by her backup trio, which has turned into a lean and garage-y outfit in the Crazy Horse mold. Pettibone matched her thunder at every turn, playing steel and mandolin between his electric guitar outbursts.
Country legend Charlie Louvin opened with a set of tunes drawn mainly from the old Louvin Brothers’ catalog, ranging from the reverent “Christian Life” (covered by the Byrds and others) to the ahead-of-its-time “Great Atomic Power.” Having just turned 80, Louvin is clearly loving the new career he’s had since the alt-country crowd rediscovered him.
But because Louvin made his name as a great harmony singer, his best moments came when Williams invited him back during her set.