Grammy Award-winning Lucinda Williams to perform at Purdue

Lucinda Williams will perform at Purdue University on Aug. 5. Photo courtesy of David McClister Download image

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams will perform at Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse at Purdue University at 8 p.m. Aug. 5. The performance is presented by Purdue Convocations, True Endeavors and Frank Productions.

After 11 highly acclaimed studio albums, Williams is in the most prolific period of her nearly four-decade career, as she continues to challenge herself creatively. “The Ghosts of Highway 20” finds Williams exploring new territory personally, sonically and vocally like never before.

“The Ghosts of Highway 20” is unlike any other prior album by Williams. There is a common thread running through the songs, uniting them under one collective theme as the haunting title track illustrates. All but two of the 14 songs were inspired by various periods and experiences throughout Williams’ life that all tie into Highway 20 (also known as Interstate 20), which runs in part from Georgia to Texas, the focal region of the album. Whether it is cities she has resided in (Atlanta and Macon, Georgai), has family ties to (Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana) or previously written about (Jackson, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippu), Williams’ personal experiences and connections to these areas inform the narratives. However, this is not an album about geographic locations, but songs and stories inspired by people, place and time.

“The Ghosts of Highway 20” features some of the most expansive and experimental arrangements Williams has ever recorded, as heard on the epic “Dust,” the chilling “If My Love Could Kill” and “House of Earth,” a lost Woody Guthrie song Williams wrote the music to. Williams expands her own vocal timbre with sultry jazz-styled phrasing on “I Know All About It” and the extensive improvisational track “Faith & Grace.” Williams puts her signature on a new interpretation of Bruce Springsteen’s “Factory,” and melts into the absolutely stunning “Louisiana Story” and “Place In My Heart.” 

Tickets go on sale to Friends of Convocations donors at 10 a.m. Thursday (June 1) through June 8. Friends can purchase tickets through the Stewart Center box office or by calling 800-914-SHOW.

Tickets for the general public range from $39.50 to $75, and go on sale at 10 a.m. June 9 through convocations.org/tickets or any Ticketmaster outlet. 

Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu