Lucinda Williams enjoying fruits of her labor
By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
Sept. 4, 2003

It’s morning for Lucinda Williams. Actually, it’s 4:30 in the afternoon. But that’s early when you were drinking with Ryan Adams and other pals until 6 a.m.

Williams is living the rock ’n’ roll life, even at age 50. There’s a new tattoo, a buff body toned by boxing class. She’s arguably at the peak of her musical powers, having just earned an enthusiastic thumbs up from her toughest critic — her dad.

Williams is two years removed from being labeled America’s best songwriter by Time magazine — the kind of weighty accolade that could either boost confidence or paralyze with pressure.

For Williams, it was a confidence- raiser that’s evident in the grooves of ‘‘World Without Tears,’’ her latest disc and most varied, adventurous work.

Glowing reviews, she’s used to that. What she hadn’t received before was an unqualified thumbs up from her father, poet Miller Williams. Whenever she completes an album, daughter sends a copy of the lyrics to dad, and always gets a marked-up copy in return.

Not this time.

‘‘He didn’t have any criticisms — not one single one, which was a first,’’ she says proudly. It made me feel great. I said, ‘Does that mean I’ve graduated?’ ’’

Dad’s response: ‘‘This is the closest thing to poetry that you’ve done.’’

The support she has received from the public has also made her more confident in her work, she says.

‘‘My feeling is that she’s real comfortable with her career, the way that it’s progressing,’’ says Luke Lewis, president of Lost Highway, Williams’ record company.

Lewis recounted a dinner he had in New Orleans with Williams recently, where he was trying to sell her on the idea of making a first-ever music video. He was making some progress until the people at the next table politely asked Williams for an autograph.

‘‘She turned around and said to me, ‘If I make a video, that’s going to happen twice as often. I don’t want to do it.’ ’’

Williams admits that it’s cliché, but she sometimes feels that success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

‘‘To me, this is a lot harder than it was when I was sleeping on someone’s couch and playing for tips in Austin, Texas, in 1974,’’ she says.

‘‘There wasn’t the pressure. People didn’t know who I was then. Most of the day-to-day struggles were in trying to pay my rent.’’

Lucinda Williams

Where: Nita's Hideaway, 3300 S. Price Road, Tempe
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
How much: $28
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