A Joyride with Lucinda Williams Grammy-winner radiates star power at intimate Fillmore show Neva Chonin, Chronicle Staff Critic Saturday, March 6, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/06/DD105451.DTL&type=music Lucinda Williams is a diplomat of cool. Thursday night at the Fillmore, a front-row fan presented her with a sincere but problematic gift -- a bootleg CD of one of her own shows. The unruffled star laughed it off. ``Wouldn't you know it? I come to San Francisco and somebody hands me a bootleg,'' she cracked. ``This is Bootleg City. It's OK. I don't mind.'' Williams has good reason to feel indulgent. Last week her fifth album, ``Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,'' was voted best album of 1998 in the Village Voice's authoritative ``Pazz & Jop'' poll, besting the nearly invincible Lauryn Hill by a hair. Last week Williams won a Grammy -- her second -- for best contemporary folk album. Fans, critics and musicians have been doting on the 45-year-old Louisiana-born singer-songwriter for decades. Her songs have been covered by everyone from Tom Petty to Emmylou Harris. What's different is that at long last the masses are starting to dote, too. Thursday the Fillmore was packed tight as a tin of sardines for the first of Williams' three San Francisco concerts, which conclude tonight, at the Warfield. Lucky fans who managed to get near the stage shared their space diplomatically. Young cowboy lesbians in tattoos and dreadlocks boogied; older country folk swung their partners. Many simply stood bobbing their heads in bliss. Williams, in a sensible mini-dress, black tights and biker boots, played acoustic guitar and kicked off with the Southern gothic ``Pineola'' from 1992's ``Sweet Old World'' before barreling into the present with ``Metal Firecracker.'' ``Car Wheels on a Gravel Road'' naturally ruled the night, with standouts like the title track and ``2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten.'' But in the course of her 100-minute set, Williams also took care to include earlier material for her veteran fans, who roared with recognition at the opening notes of favorites such as ``Side of the Road,'' ``Passionate Kisses'' and ``Something About What Happens When We Talk.'' The warm, interactive chemistry between Williams and her audience stood in balmy contrast to the current state-of-siege atmosphere of most rock (and that would include country rock -- new country, No Depression or otherwise) and hip- hop concerts. There just aren't many Grammy-winning musicians who let fans drape themselves over the front of their stage. This easy attitude and lack of bouncers doesn't translate into a lack of star presence. Williams is as mesmeric delivering a melancholy song such as ``Jackson'' as she is jamming out a steamy cover of Howlin' Wolf's ``Come to Me Baby.'' In performance, her expressive vocals are much like the woman herself -- beautiful, a little ragged and exquisitely, poetically possessed. The members of Williams' backup band shone in their own right. Rhythm guitarist Kenny Vaughan, looking like a cross between Buddy Holly and one of Herman's nerdier Hermits, twitched and twisted with aplomb. Lead guitarist John Jackson, formerly a Bob Dylan sideman, played suave and subtle lead guitar. Bassist Richard ``Hombre'' Price and drummer Fran Breen ably held down the fort while organist-accordionist Randy Leago supplied melodic atmosphere. Opening act Patty Griffin, who won over the audience with a delivery as lushly stylized as her tendriled red hair, joined Williams to supply counter-harmonies on ``Greenville.'' Every concert has its epiphany, and Thursday's came with the final pre-encore number. After dedicating songs to late friends and heroes such as Dusty Springfield (``Still I Long for Your Kiss'') and Williams' longtime drummer, Donald Lindley, who recently died of lung cancer, the singer paused to fiddle with her guitar strings and ponder. Then, with a shrug, she simply offered, ``I guess all we can do is rock on.'' Which she did, in a rousing, extended jam session capping one of her newer songs, fittingly titled ``Joy.''
