Williamsatthe Barbican: back in the driving seat
ROBINLITTLE/REDFERNS
FOR a moment or two, Lucinda Williams almost looks frail. Escorted up the steps onto the Barbican stage, blinking into the light, she glances down at her lyrics for reassurance while supporting herself on a chair. But after speaking to her engineer and adjusting her monitor levels, her whole demeanour changes. “When Momma’s happy,” she reassures us with a smile, “everyone’s happy.” Williams is now almost 70 and suffered a stroke a couple of years ago. But although she’s not playing guitar tonight, she assures us that the effects are only temporary. She’s back in the driving seat and we’re off, down the lost highways and haunted backroads of one of the richest, most defiant songbooks in modern American music.