Lucinda Williams

Over the quarter-century-plus since her breakthrough album, 1980’s Happy Woman Blues, Lucinda Williams has built one of the strongest discographies in the modern country/folk canon. As her voice shows signs of wear and tear, taking on a roughness usually reserved for her male counterparts, Williams’ work has become rawer and more in line with contemporary roots-rock. Her 2007 disc, West, was a meditation on a tumultuous relationship, filled with tension and violence, but her 2008 follow-up Little Honey is a lighter celebration of rock ’n’ roll, featuring carefree collaborations with Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs.