Live From Austin,Tx '89 (DVD)

This is a real musical treasure - Lucinda Williams' very first appearance (of three) on Austin City Limits, recorded October 13, 1989, and one of the highlights of the 15th anniversary season. She was riding the wave of her hit song, "Passionate Kisses", that buoyant paean to desire and hope that appeared on several rock critics' "best of" lists the year before. In fact, it seemed like everybody was wild about Lucinda. What was it about her - the songs, full of raw emotion? The voice - exuding longing, desire, passion? All that and more. It's not like she was the new kid on the block, having released her first record in 1979 on Folkways. But her self-titled album Lucinda Williams, the year before the performance, blew the doors wide open. Maybe music fans were starving for the kind of tell-it-like-it-is honesty that Lucinda delivers in spades. As The New York Times noted, "she's got her finger on her audiences' pulse, a pulse that runs straight to the heart."

This show captures everything she does - simple folk, gusty blues, heart-worn country, American roots, rock and roll. "I Just Wanted To See You So Bad" will make you ache; "Crescent City" will make you yearn for a New Orleans that may be lost. "Changed The Locks", about a broken relationship, is as direct as any song ever written. She can turn from fragile to hard as stone, from one song to the next, but no matter what she sings, you can tell she's been there.

By T Johnson