Singer Lucinda Williams makes mature hip, sexy

By Ros Krasny

CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams says she's at the peak of her career after over 30 years in the business and is continuing to write music prolifically.

Williams, 54, the triple-Grammy winning roots-rock musician famous for penning tales of breakups, loneliness and redemption, is enjoying high acclaim for "West," her 8th studio album, and is in the midst of a year-long tour.

The Louisiana-bred, Los Angeles-based singer spoke to Reuters in her languid Bayou drawl about being a rocker in middle age and processing pain through song:

Q: I read that you wanted "West" to be "mature but hip." Isn't that an oxymoron?

A: "To a lot of people it isn't (but) I think within the rock music industry, getting older is not seen as hip. It's different in the jazz world and the blues world: it doesn't matter how many wrinkles you have or how much weight you gain.

"But the rock world is very youth oriented and youth obsessive. There are only a few women in my age group out there still showing themselves. Marianne Faithful, Chrissie Hynde. Patti Smith is a great example. But you can almost count them on one hand. I want to show that you can be an older woman and be sexy and hip."

Q: Compared to those musicians you've had a different career trajectory.

A: "The whole thing in my career that's so unusual, first of all, is that I'm 54 years old. My career is just reaching this peak. I don't know what to attribute that to, except that my thinking doesn't revolve around my age. Most people think I'm a lot younger than I am. I've been doing this since my 20s, but it just took me longer to get to this place. I never gave up. My creativity and my art doesn't revolve around my success"