Lucinda Williams 15/7/2016

This was the third time for me seeing Lucinda Williams and having listened to the recent album 'The Ghosts of Highway 20' I was well up for it. The support was an exuberant Aussie drums and guitar duo The Pierce Brothers'. They were entertaining and I particularly liked 'Overdose' and a song probably called 'Running' but maybe the vocals were a tad shouty. Lucinda came on with a bassist (David Sutton - same as when we saw her in 2013), drummer and lead guitarist (Stuart Mathis) and kicked off with 'World Without Tears' dedicated to the Nice victims. The thing about a Lucinda Williams gig is that she pretty much makes up the set as she goes along as evidenced by the slight panic in the guitarist's eyes as he rapidly searches for the right guitar after Lucinda has made up her mind. I was delighted that 'Lake Charles' and 'Drunken Angel' seem to be fixtures in any gig. The title track from 'Ghosts of Highway 20' is another great song. She sang it up tempo on this occasion. Perhaps the highlight was 'West Memphis' another song off the album - a brilliant sense of place, of ingrained corruption, of alienation in rural America. Some very nice guitar from Stuart on this and several other songs, he seemed particularly good with rhythmic licks requiring precise timing although some of the solo work lacked a little feeling. She did 'Pineola' early on in the set as well. Later in the gig the songs became more up tempo and rocky but I think I preferred the first more introspective part. She is definitely a significant player in the alt-country scene and very good live but clearly is not as well known as some (Nanci Griffiths, Emmylou Harris etc). The Colston Hall was full but only downstairs. She deserves a bigger audience.