Lucinda Williams

Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

Arts, Performing Arts, Music

5.0 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lucinda Williams, one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of her generation, joins Rhett to talk about writing her memoir, the moment she realized she wanted to write music, and learning to understand the difference between songwriting and poetry. Lucinda recalls some of the first songs she wrote and goes into depth about her songwriting process, using a song that she’s currently working on as an example. She shares an important piece of advice that her dad gave her, and explains why digging deep is the key to songwriting. Lucinda Williams’ music has gotten her through her darkest days. It’s been that way since growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You (a NY Times Top 5 Best Seller). Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from a debilitating stroke she suffered on November 17, 2020, at age 67. Her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. To wit, her stunning, sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since age 12 – her distinctive vocals sound better than ever. The past year has seen Williams honored by BMI for her songwriting, her induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame, and a Grammy Week tribute at the Troubadour, with her songs performed by a diversity of Americana artists. Lucinda will be touring the U.S. in January - February 2024. Listen to Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart Order her memoir Don’t Tell Anybody The Stories I Told You Lucinda Williams website Follow @lucinda_williams Rhett Miller website Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer Kirsten Cluthe. Editing by Matt Dwyer. Music by OLD 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Distributed in partnership with Osiris Media. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, The Milk Carton Kids, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Osiris.
0:04.0	Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life.
0:09.3	I'm Rhett Miller.
0:10.7	That's when it got wheels off.
0:13.8	We started ugly.
0:15.0	Ain't gonna stop.
0:16.1	Oh, she made me feel like a good God.
0:19.5	That's when it got wheels off. Lucinda Williams. Does she really need any introduction? If you don't know Lucinda Williams and her
0:30.6	brilliant catalogue of music, I would highly recommend that you pause this introduction and go listen to car wheels
0:41.9	on a gravel road, for instance, really anything from her decades-long career.
0:48.8	It all holds up, it's all great, the poetry of her lyrics, the magic of her melodies. She is a vivacious rock
0:57.9	and roll hero, certainly a hero of mine. I've gotten to know her over the years and consider her
1:05.7	friend to watch her resilience in the post-stroke world in which she finds herself after having had a
1:16.5	stroke a couple of years ago. She's just so kick-ass, you guys. She no longer is able to play guitar,
1:22.5	but she is still rocking and she sings better than ever, which we address at one point during this
1:28.8	conversation.
1:30.7	She has a new memoir out and a new album out.
1:35.2	The memoir, don't tell anybody the secrets I told you, the album, stories from a rock and roll
1:40.2	heart, they're both great.
1:42.8	The memoir is chock full of funny, fascinating, behind-the-scenes
1:47.6	dirt, and just really, you know, deep thoughts, great. She's got a great perspective on what it
1:57.4	means to spend a life being creative, creating art.
	...

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