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Big job, and great job, TnT!!! Thank you! 🙂
I think you should hide the total songs played… don’t want to scare off Blake with that giant number!
Thanks Lafayette and TnT, this is very cool. How do the videos get attached to the songs on the set lists? “I Don’t Know How You’re Livin'” is my blind-eyed blurry version from Fayetteville (posted on YouTube). Aaaarrggh. But at least people get to hear what a pretty song it is, and entices them to buy Blessed. 🙂
This site really makes me determined to get video of Seeing Black, Copenhagen, Ugly Truth, and Awakening at the next bunch of shows. I don’t think there is live video of those available yet. 8)
I believe TNT, Stoger, and I had the pleasure of seeing Caitlin open for Mr. Chuck E. Prophet last summer at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur (Atlanta) – a great listening room venue. She has a great and big voice, especially for someone so young. 🙂
Too much metaphor and not enough punctuation for me to be able to decipher this one. But if a reviewer doesn’t grasp the haunting beauty of Copenhagen…
http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2011-03-18/lucinda-williams-blessed/
By Raoul Hernandez, Fri., March 18, 2011
Lucinda Williams
Blessed (Lost Highway)Some of the six years between Lucinda Williams’ twin catalog pillars, 1992’s Sweet Old World and 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, could have been spared to pad out the intermission between Blessed and its predecessor, 2008’s Little Honey. In the aftermath of Car Wheels, Williams rambled for a decade with Essence (2001), World Without Tears (’03), and West (’07). Blessed doesn’t sting like Little Honey, but if opener “Buttercup” sloshes frivolously first as an excuse for Williams to suck on its title with thick-tongued relish, that bottles Little Honey’s loose fun. Messed could title “I Don’t Know How You’re Livin'” landing second in the lineup with a too-long run-time and a follow-the-groove groove, while “Copenhagen” next barely rallies more. “To Be Loved,” then, blesses Blessed, a 1950s hotel room next to the neon sign outside, tube amps lit for love and heartbreak. Again following a vocal and musical vamp, this time the song’s juju pulps 100%. And it’s here that Blessed rallies. “Seeing Black” rocks loose and free, its guitars rough and ready and rustling touches of Sticky Fingers-era Stones on the succeeding “Soldiers Song,” axed in part by Elvis Costello. Blessed guitars give ’til it hurts, such as the title track projecting “Moonlight Mile.” Middle-class misfits “Sweet Love,” “Ugly Truth,” and “Convince Me” could take a powder, but the rapture of “Awakening” stirs a dragon. This goes on the mixtape with “Born To Be Loved.” Closer “Kiss Like Your Kiss” bookends “Buttercup,” another tree sap tongue smack and dillydally as unconcerned as the one at the start, but again, that’s the point. The controlled recklessness of Little Honey was a long-awaited antidote to Car Wheels’ strong medicine, and now Blessed basks in its older sibling’s afterglow. A deluxe edition bonuses the whole album in demo mode from Lucinda Williams’ kitchen table. Now that’s sanctified. (Fri., 12mid, ACL Live at the Moody Theater)
SamishSeaMike said:
Victoria on June 27th.. Portland on July 2nd..
Vancouver and Seattle in between!! (Gotta be)
Loving it.Yay!! I know you left-coasters have been doing a lot of listening to how much fun we east coasters have been having. Y’all deserve some of the fun, too. 🙂
tntracy wrote:
There you have it, Tom! Between the three of us, we want all of them!
Hahahaha, of course we do!! 😆
For what it’s worth, here’s my list ranked by order of preference:
1. Blessed
2. Convince Me
3. For What It’s Worth
4. Born To Be Loved
5. Drunken Angel
6. Buttercup
7. Real Live Bleeding FingersThanks for asking for the input, Tom. 🙂
Lafayette wrote: Dang. Lu went into a lengthy intro for “For What’s It’s Worth” however I can’t read my chicken scratch
Thanks for the play-by-play, Lafayette! 🙂
At the Orange Peel it was so dark in the 3rd ‘row’, I truly couldn’t see anything at all that I was writing. Trying to decipher my notes was like trying to read Ray Charles’ handwriting. 😉
http://www.roughstock.com/reviews/lucinda-williams-blessed
Lucinda Williams – Blessed
By: Stormy Lewis
Last Updated: March 14, 2011 4:03 PMOne of the many things that have been lost in this era of digital music is truly great album covers. In an era when artists have a small square measuring less than an inch, albums are increasingly represented by a close up of an artists face. On her new album, Lucinda Williams does even the album art her way, with a randomly selected choice of enigmatic photos about blessings. In one a little girl and her brother invite you into their muddy meadow to play. In another a mother and her child beam out their joy from the hood of an ancient Ford. In another a man stands with his chest raised proud, leaning against his can, in front of a moving truck. Each holds a sign with Blessed scrawled on it. Whether its the Chinese tailor posing in front of his machines or the Hispanic girl with her overdressed pug on The Walk of Stars, each holds the sign like it is the title card to their own private movie. The affect is warm, inviting and very uniquely American. It reflects something unifying and honest about the our country and the people that live within it. Everyone in the pictures it laying claim to the part of their story that is being told on the album, and inviting the audience to find their own stories as well.
“You talk about the junk you did like you were talking about climbing trees,” Williams snarls on the lead single “Buttercup.” Dealing with an ex addicting to about anything that gets his adrenaline up, she walks away with an exhausted “You want my forgiveness and that I’ll give to you, but you got yourself into this mess and there’s nothing I can do.” “I Don’t Know How Your Living,” is a fitting follow up, a quite ballad about the sheer exhaustion of dealing with the maintenance of an addict. Inspired by the breakup of her last rock and roll relationship and her new marriage to a healthy and functional man, much of the album feels like a good by to the cliched rock and roll lifestyle and the people who populate it. On some of the most touching tracks, that farewell is literal and very final. “Copenhagen” is a wistful and tender tribute to her former manager. Lucinda Williams was a long time friend of Vic Chestnut, and “Seeing Black” is writing questioning his decision to kill himself. “How could I have been so blind, I didn’t know you had changed your mind,” she ponders mournfully. Much like Sweet Old World, Blessed to touched by the losses in Williams’ life over the past few years.
As with her past album, Blessed couples ruminations of death with musings on life and the messed up, broken people who people it. The title track is a beautiful ballad which pulls blessing from figures that could be pulled either from the Bible or from a busy, modern street. “Born to Be Loved,” which comes across like an affirmation for the world, if mirrored by the pleading of “Convince Me.” Perhaps the quietest song on the album is “Sweet Love,” a love song which is as warm and cozy as a childhood blanket. “Kiss Like Your Kiss” is another light and sultry ballad, coming in somewhere between “Still I Long For Your Kiss” and “Like A Rose.” While they have been much rarer on her recent work, Lucinda Williams is no stranger to a really good love song. Blessed finds her back in her element with warm, bubbling and earthy affection towards her beloved. Awakening, however, is the song that most perfectly sums up the theme of Blessed. “I will not mourn my losses, I will not mourn the dead,” she asserts, “I will have no bosses, I will not bow my head.”
Lucinda Williams has always understood the pain that underlays joy. She has always understood that one way or another relationships always end. She could fill an entire cd with eulogies she has written to friends that have died. This is the cost of living a life that tends to attract those who are damaged and those who are addicted to damage. Blessed is the first album where Lucinda Williams finally stop to assess the cost of that life, and it is only Lucinda Williams who could title such an assessment Blessed. Certainly there are things that she finds it necessary to jettison, but that does not rob those relationships of their blessings. This is an album which truly understands that you have to dig through the rubble to find the joy, because we all have lives that are more potch than opals. And, Lucinda Williams is truly a songwriter who tells the stories for all of us.
Hi Guys! Sorry for the delay in posting in. I had a giant dog barking in the room next to mine last night, and had some work-related errands to tend to, as well as a 9-hour drive home. But I made it! 😀
WOW!!! What an incredible show last night! It had to have been in my top 3 favorites. I can’t imagine anything ever topping the never-ending show in Baltimore several years back – at the Ram’s Head – with no curfew – on the last night of the tour – show lasted till about 1:30am. But last night’s was right up there! It had to have been as much fun to be on stage, as it was for us in the audience. 🙂
Set list:
1. I Just Wanted To See You So Bad
2. Happy Woman Blues – ‘This is an older song from the Folkways Album…’
3. People Talkin’ – ‘It sounds really good in here.’
4. 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten – ‘I initially got the idea for this song on New Year’s Day after a wild night out in Knoxville, and from the books “Juke Joints” and “Appalachian Portraits” by Shelby Lee Adams.’ Lu messed up the lyrics at the ‘leaning against the railing’ part, laughed and said ‘I looked over at Val and I got distracted – that’s what happens’. The genuineness of the moment just added to the fun.
5. Crescent City – ‘This is a song I was real honored to have Emmy Lou Harris record.’
6. I Lost It – ‘This song I got the idea for when I was living in Houston about 30 years ago, and I kept seeing these bumper stickers on cars that said “I Found It”. ‘
7. Right In Time – ‘Off the Car Wheels album’
8. Buttercup – ‘I wrote this song about the same guy as Jailhouse Tears – the last chapter, the only bad boy song on the new album – which is pretty good. I still had a little bit in my system.’
9. I Don’t Know How You’re Livin’ – ‘ I wrote this song about my younger brother, who I also wrote Are You Alright? about. He doesn’t even know how famous he’s getting!’ Again, it was stunning and beautiful with its authenticity and simplicity.
10. Something About What Happens When We Talk – tour debut
11. Born To Be Loved
12. Convince Me – This song consistently seems to be one of the biggest crowd-pleasers, with lots of hooting and hollering.
13. Essence – one of the skull heads flew off Butch’s drums; he had to find it and re-connect it
14. Come On
15. Real Live Bleeding Fingers & Broken Guitar Strings
16. Righteously
17. Changed The Locks – ‘Dylan LeBlanc and I just got done contributing to Steve Cropper’s new album, along with Betty Lavette.’
18. Honey Bee – ‘We really appreciate y’all coming out and supporting us, especially during these tough economic times.’
‘Thanks, you’ve been a great audience – God bless you – Love, Peace, & Revolution!’
1st Encore:
19. Blessed – ‘This is the title song off the new album.’
20. Get Right With God – Dylan LeBlanc came back on stage and joined in playing guitar.
21. Joy – Dylan LeBlanc vs. Val McCallum in dueling guitars.
Crowd ROARED as Lu & crew left the stage.
2nd Encore:
22. For What It’s Worth – ‘This is a 60’s protest song, by one of my favorite bands, and it’s still very relevant. People marching on the capitol, trying to get their voices heard. Power to the people! They’re trying to get their voices heard; they’re mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore!’
The girl shook the rafters, and brought down the house!
TOverby wrote:
New show being announced next week:
4/21 -Indianapolis
4/22 -Covington Ky (Cincinnati)
4/23 -Louisville
4/25 -Charlottesville
4/26 -Charlotte
4/27 -KnoxvilleWorking on more May shows also
The Facebook post says that Louisville is on 4/22 (instead of the above listed 4/23). Does that mean Covington is actually on 4/23, and they were just reversed? Thanks!!! 🙂
Good Magnet Magazine interview, with Lu mention –
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2011/03/14/qa-with-over-the-rhine/
Lucinda Williams sings on “Undamned.” How did that come about? Did she do her part at Joe’s studio while you were there?
When it came to song selection, we didn’t think “Undamned” was going to make the final cut for the record. But Joe had a feeling about the song and thought of Lucinda Williams and sent her the demo. The song resonated with her, and she offered to sing on it. She came to The Garfield House one evening and leaned into the microphone, and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room when we heard the two voices together. An amazing moment for Karin and me because Lucinda’s songs and records and voice have traveled with us for years.
