Lucinda Williams with Doug Pettibone

After amping it up on World Without Tears and Live @ The Fillmore, Lucinda Williams brings it all back home to her folkie roots. By stripping her stage show down to just her and masterful guitar foil Doug Pettibone (as much the star of the aforementioned albums as Williams herself)...

By Rob Patterson

March 23, 2006

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After amping it up on World Without Tears and Live @ The Fillmore, Lucinda Williams brings it all back home to her folkie roots. By stripping her stage show down to just her and masterful guitar foil Doug Pettibone (as much the star of the aforementioned albums as Williams herself) the focus returns to what made her a significant artist in the first place--her songs. Sans the big-gun firepower, her gift for investing small details and seemingly little moments with emotional if not psychic weight can truly be savored. Similarly, while the ragged glory of her voice has lately wailed with a newfound freedom, in this unadorned context the cracks and burrs that give her singing its distinctive personality and express the heart and soul of her art also retake center stage. And while Pettibone's electric six-stringing squeezes the sparks from Williams' most recent work, don't be surprised if he is just as adept at those subtle filigrees that fill out the melodies and enrich the listening experience.

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