Lucinda Williams

One of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of her generation, Lucinda Williams was also a fiercely independent artist who had to fight for the creative freedom that allowed her to do her best work. The daughter of a well-respected poet, Williams brought a literacy and sense of detail to her work that was unpretentious but powerfully evocative and emotional, which led to a number of major artists covering her tunes while she was still establishing herself as a performer. As a vocalist, Williams used the rough edges of her instrument to her advantage, allowing the grit of her voice to heighten the authenticity of her performance. Early in her career, critics compared Williams to Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt, which tended to fly in the face of her originality; if she was clearly informed by the blues and the giants of the singer/songwriter community, her execution set her apart and put her in a class of her own that was beholden to blues, folk, country, and rock without swearing full allegiance to any of them. Her first two albums (1979's Ramblin' and 1980's Happy Woman Blues) presented her as a strong if not exceptional folk-blues artist, but 1988's Lucinda Williams was a striking set of original songs that won her rave reviews and announced her status as a major artist. Williams butted heads with record labels and producers while making 1992's Sweet Old World, and her determination to make her album her own way led to Car Wheels on a Gravel Road not emerging until 1998, though the critical and commercial success of the disc paved the way for her to call her own shots and create on her own terms. Since then, she's released a steady stream of albums that have found her exploring her muse and her heart, including 2001's Essence, 2003's World Without Tears, and 2011's Blessed. With 2014's Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, Williams further asserted her independence by forming her own label and launching it with an expansive double set.