Lucinda Williams: Pearl Street Balcony Memories

Lucinda Williams has been playing gigs in Northampton for decades. She’s returning next Saturday for a show at the Calvin–it will be great to hear her sing after such a long time.

The last time I saw her sing was at the Pearl Street Ballroom around 1999. Eric had just bought the club, and it was a packed house. We were treated to something special when the mogul himself invited me to come up to the balcony. Then I invited David Sokol, once the music editor of the Valley Advocate, to come join us above the crowd as the singer performed songs from her biggest album, 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

There was no Calvin Theater back then, and thinking about that makes this feel like a very old story. It might well have been two decades back. Wow, time flies.

In recent years, Lucinda got married to Tom Overby up on stage one night, just before the encore in Sept 2009 during a show in Minneapolis.

Despite the fact the Williams has never topped the success of Gravel Road, she’s still a hauntingly beautiful singer and has many fans in the Valley. Even though this time I won’t be looking down on a packed ballroom from the balcony, I am sure this will be an excellent night of music.

Tickets: www.iheg.com