Episode 40 - Lucinda Williams
Three time Grammy award-winning singer songwriter, and creator of over a dozen acclaimed albums, Lucinda Williams sits down with Chloe Aftel to chronicle her journey in music, from being emotionally taken by the folk music of the 1960s, to creating her most recent album, “World’s Gone Wrong,” which responds directly to the current American political landscape. Shining through Williams’ anecdotes is an artistic integrity and self-honesty that has simultaneously created friction in her career, and pushed her to take her own gravel road to pioneer the Americana genre. From being inspired to write meaningful songs by Bob Dylan, to now performing with him on the world’s grandest stages, Williams meditates on how she maintains a healthy dynamic between her art, ego, and success. With passion, she makes it clear that politics and real life are never separate from her music, and makes a call for the necessity of civic engagement to counteract the growing trend towards apathy. It is this gusto and Williams’ buoyant spirit that reminds us that although there will never be a world without tears, we are all on Earth together.
Highlights:
Williams discusses the impact her parents had on her music, and how the rebel spirit she learned from them continues to persist in her today
She pinpoints the enduring themes of her work, and the critiques she received from the industry for being an artist that grapples with sorrow
She reflects on the most difficult parts of performing, and how she’s improved as a singer songwriter with a growing audience
She discusses her relationship to her guitar, and the hurdles she’s had to overcome now that she performs without it
Biographies:
Lucinda Williams is a Grammy award-winning American singer-songwriter with over 700,000 monthly listeners on music streaming services. Born in 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana to a father who wrote poetry and taught creative writing and a mother who spent long hours at the piano, Williams developed her love for writing and music as a young girl. By 1980 she had released two albums, “Ramblin on My Mind” (1979) and “Happy Woman Blues” (1980) to some critical buzz. However, it was the release of her third album, titled “Lucinda Williams” in 1988 that brought her tender heart into the national spotlight. In 1998, Williams broke through commercially with the release of “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,” a genre bending album that carved out her unique style—one she says can be found in the crack between rock and country—and earned her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her most recent album, “World’s Gone Wrong,” (2026) was created in response to the chaotic socio-political landscape of contemporary America. The album, once again, proves Williams’ masterful ability to marry hard truths with a voice evocative of a warm fire on a frigid day, motivating anyone listening to think about their civic role, and drop a few tears.
Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between, is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States.
