Jesse Malin describes in a feature piece for RS this week the time when his band D Generation were on the road opening for the Ramones in 1996 and first heard Lucinda Williams’ voice: “It was on the duet with Steve Earle ‘You’re Still Standin’ There’ and her distinct nasally tone cut through like a serrated knife, all jagged and dangerous. Excited about his discovery, Malin couldn’t wait to tell his mentor, Joey Ramone.
“He was such a music lover. We’d talk in the mornings and ask each other, ‘What are you listening to?’” says Malin, precariously sipping on an overpoured hot tea in a coffeehouse in Nashville, where he’s just performed the night before. “I said, ‘I’m listening to Lucinda Williams. I gotta go buy all her records.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I know her.’ I said, ‘Joey, you know Lucinda Williams?’””
You can read the whole piece which also includes a rather good anecdote about supporting Tom Petty here.