Of all the stupid labels that the music industry uses to describe its product, there are few more pigeonholing than “singer-songwriter.” As far as labels go, it’s descriptive enough. I mean, people called “singer-songwriters” generally both write songs and sing. They also tend to have another thing in common?they suck. This has nothing to do with the actual act of writing songs and singing. Plenty of good musicians are able to do both quite well. The problem with singer-songwriters is lousiness seems to be a prerequisite for earning that particular title. So, you’re the latest singer-songwriter, eh? I hate you already, and there’s little you can do to change my mind.
First off, singer-songwriters don’t rock. Sorry, Jackson Browne, you don’t rock, you nudge. Plus, you wrote “Take it Easy.” That’s a capital offense. Second, singer-songwriters generally sing about things I, and society as a whole, couldn’t care less about. That’s fine in just about any other context, but singer-songwriters are rarely interesting enough musically to compensate.
That said, two of contemporary music’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters will be stopping at 9:30 Club on consecutive nights this week. Lucinda Williams plays tonight, Nov. 15, while Shelby Lynne plays Friday night. Gag me now, right? Actually, these two singer-songstresses deserve a tad more attention than their unfortunately oft-applied monikers belie.
Shelby Lynne found her way onto innumerable year-end top 10 lists a year ago on the strength of her sixth album, I Am Shelby Lynne. Make no mistake; she is Shelby Lynne. However I, for one, couldn’t quite understand why I should care. Given, she demonstrates remarkable range over the country, blues, rock and R&B genres, but it never seems to be inventive enough to deserve special praise, though it seemed to be quite enough for innumerable critics.
Well, now she’s hooked up with ?ber-producer Glen Ballard on her latest album, Love, Shelby. Ballard, as you may recall, produced Alanis Morissette’s breakout Jagged Little Pill, and unfortunately has found little trouble finding work ever since. Love, Shelby has the sort of overproduced sheen you would expect from such a Hollywood hotshot, which tends to downplay her often passionate lyrical content. Hopefully, her live show will be a more spontaneous affair; it’s pretty much guaranteed to sound better than the record.
Give Lynne credit on one count: She very well could have fallen into the death pit of “contemporary country,” but she avoided becoming the next Faith Hill or Shania Twain. Lynne’s previous albums, whose mediocrity was largely ignored, aimed squarely at Nashville success. However, she has thankfully managed to escape that black hole of musical crap with her last two albums. Hopefully, she can go somewhere really special as her career progresses.
Much like Lynne, Lucinda Williams has found substantial acclaim with a countrified blues-rock amalgam after a languishing in obscurity for most of the ‘90s. Her Car Wheels on a Gravel Road garnered considerable critical success after its 1998 release. Williams, however, sets herself head and shoulders above Lynne on the strength of her voice alone. So sultry, so twangy, so raspy, so irresistible! You know better than to mess with this woman, but you can’t keep away. Gentlemen, she’s going to eat us alive?a veritable siren, she is!
Actually, her lusty voice betrays some serious musical savvy; her unique blues-twang is like little else in the whole of music. Think of the North Mississippi All-Stars’ 8-cylinder electric blues juggernaut with the potent femininity of a Chrissy Hynde. Ouch. Her brand new record, Essence, features a bit less twang and dirty blues than Car Wheels, but Williams still writes songs interesting enough that the singer-songwriter label can be thankfully reserved.
These ladies are guaranteed to put on a good show. Check them out.
The 9:30 Club is located at 815 V St., N.W.
