UNDERCOVER INTERVIEW WITH LUCINDA WILLIAMS

The only other festival Lucinda has ever played apart from the one she is scheduled to play next week in Byron Bay (Bluesfest 2012) is the one she played in Australia a few years back that was awash with rain and had everybody in gumboots and sloshing around in the mud with high spirits, Williams remembers " It was like Woodstock or something."

Hopefully the Bluesfest 2012 will deliver weather as good as the lineup. I began with the question;

SB: You are on the Bluesfest bill with the likes of Steve Earle and Crosby, Stills and Nash...

LW: Wow! I didn't even know. I haven't heard who else was on the bill.

SB: Oh, okay. Its massive, it's huge, actually my question was going to be.... who are you most excited about seeing.

LW: I didn't know Steve Earle was on the bill , I was talking to him last week.

SB: Well, John Fogherty is going to be playing, Buddy Guy...

LW: Buddy Guy, he's great.

SB: Brian Setzer, there's about 80 acts on the lineup, so its a big one.

LW: Wow.

SB: So, having worked with Steve Earle and David Crosby in the past is their any chance you might get up and perform with them or they with you?

LW: Maybe, there'd probably be more of a chance with Steve Earle. I haven't met David Crosby, we did that one track together on that Gram Parsons tribute album and he put his vocals on another studio. But, Steve Earle and I have done a lot of stuff.

SB: You never know what might happen?

LW: It's a possibility.

SB: That would be very exciting, can I ask you about the band you are bringing out? Is it pretty much the regular lineup?

LW: Well there's a little bit of something different and it's really exciting. I've got my rhythm section that I've been with for a few years now, Butch Norton on drums, David Sutton on bass, then Doug Pettibone is back in the band, you know, he was touring with Marianne Faithfull and various people, so he's doing it and we got another guy who's also playing guitar, the guitar player from the Wallflowers, Stuart Mathis. Yeah, we had rehearsals and it sounds so amazing, everybody's really excited about it.

SB: How far ahead do you start rehearsing before a tour ?

LW: We had rehearsal this week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and the guys have gone over forty songs.

SB: That's a lot of songs, do you work out the setlist at rehearsals?

LW: Yeah, the rehearsals, there's a lot to get organised....and packing.

SB: You strike me as a very down to earth, salt of the earth type of person. You don't seem the type of person that would particularly be into schmoozing industry and media types. How do you cope with the media and attention?

LW: You know at this point I'm in a good place, you know I do as much press as I can, but I don't really have to worry about it too much. I started out being very down to earth about everything so everybody knows thats just how I am.

SB: You also come across as extremely independent. When you are recording, producing or looking at artwork for an album, do you have total control?

LW:Yeah, I'm involved every step of the way. I have someone helping like an art director. But I look at everything and my husband Tom and I make all the decisions.

SB: Throughout your life have you had an artist or artists that have remained a constant for you?

LW: Yeah, I would have to say thetop of my list would be Bob Dylan.

SB: I read that amongst other's, you are also a fan of Joan Baez.

LW: Yeah, you know when I first started out her early albums. Yes, Judy Collins and a lot of different influences, The Rolling Stones. The Beatles, Lightin Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Loretta Lynn.

SB: Having said that, if you could play with anyone, who would it be?

LW: Hmmm. Oh boy, that's a hard one....(pause). Buddy Guy. Yeah, he's still alive...well we've had so many great artists die recently, Etta James and so many great ones. So, I'd love to play with one of the few blues artists from that earlier generation that are still doing it, still out there playing. That would be fun, that would be cool.

SB: I'd love to see that.

LW: Well......

SB: How was working with Elvis Costello and Matthew Sweet on the album  "Blessed"?

LW: Oh it was great. I just adore both of them. They're both really cool people and very talented.

SB: They are both amazing musicians.

LW: Yeah, they are both amazing artists and really down to earth, friendly and inspiring.

SB: Speaking of inspiring, I saw Nick Lowe play in Melbourne last week. As you know, he has worked extensively with Elvis Costello, just so happens he is playing Bluesfest in Byron Bay as well.

LW: Oh great! Well we're looking forward to it.

SB: And we're looking forward to you coming to play shows.

Lucinda Williams will perform on the following dates in Australia and New Zealand.

Click here for tickets to Bluesfest 2012: http://www.bluesfest.com.

And here for sideshows : http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/Lucinda-Williams-tickets/artist/736461