Lucinda Williams August 10, 2004

($40). The object of cultish adoration for years, alternative country-rock singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams was universally hailed as a major talent by both critics and fellow musicians, but it took quite some time for her to parlay that respect into a measure of attention from the general public. A multi-Grammy award winner, Williams is perhaps best known for Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which critics call a masterpiece, and her recent Grammy-nominated World Without Tears. With music that is at once raw, sensual, dark and edgy, Lucinda Williams puts her own unique stamp on a range of material.