Happy Woman Blues (CD - 1980)

Personnel: Lucinda Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mickey White (acoustic & electric guitars); Andre Matthews (electric & slide guitars); Mickey Moody (pedal steel guitar); Malcolm Smith (fiddle, viola); Rex Bell (bass); Ira Wilkes (drums).

Recorded at Sugar Hill Studios, Houston, Texas between April & June 1980. Includes liner notes by John Morthland.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Lucinda Williams' first collection of original material -- recorded with a full band -- is stunning for its mixture of blues, folk, and country traditions with her captivating, complex, and visceral approach to writing and singing. Songs like "Lafayette," "King of Hearts," and "Sharp Cutting Wings" are classics: structurally solid and emotionally intense. A gutsy, refreshingly rootsy album. ~ Kurt Wolff

Folks who discovered Lucinda Williams through rootsy folk-pop albums like 1992's SWEET OLD WORLD and 1998's CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD might be taken aback by the Louisiana-bred singer/songwriter's first two albums, 1979's RAMBLIN' and 1980's HAPPY WOMAN BLUES. Williams' first love is acoustic country blues in the Delta tradition, with RAMBLIN' consisting of respectful covers of country blues classics and this follow-up featuring 11 Williams originals in that style.

Opening with the wistful "Lafayette" and closing with the enigmatic "Sharp Cutting Wings (Song to a Poet)," HAPPY WOMAN BLUES shows that Williams' sharp eye for evocative detail and talent for powerful lyrical imagery were clearly evident even in her first songs-particularly on the gripping "Howlin' at Midnight." Williams disappeared for nine years after recording this album. When she returned, with 1989's excellent LUCINDA WILLIAMS, the stark acoustic simplicity of this album was gone. minimize