After going down a storm with audiences at Perth’s Southern Fried Festival, declaring her 2009 Perth Concert Hall gig “My favourite gig of the entire UK tour!” Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter Lucinda Williams is making a welcome return to the Fair City this year. 

Considered by many to be one of America’s greatest living songwriters, Lucinda Williams plays Perth Concert Hall on Friday 21 June – a month before this year’s Southern Fried Festival - as part of her worldwide tour performing songs from her new album Blessed. 

The stunning new album from the three-time Grammy Award-winner delivers 12 new songs that cover an even wider emotional spectrum than her previous work. 

It’s nothing new to see Williams tug at the heartstrings and stimulate the mind with her songs, but there is a vibe throughout Blessed that is unique to this album in-particular. It’s the sound of the wisdom and experience Williams has gained through her years as an uncompromising talent. Combine that with Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was at the helm, and something special is born. Was co-produced Blessed with Eric Liljestrand and Tom Overby, who co-produced Williams highly-praised Little Honey (2008). Blessed features special guests Rami Jaffe on keyboards, Matthew Sweet on vocals Greg Leisz and Elvis Costello on guitar. 

“Being married and feeling comfortable in my life, I’ve been able to go outside myself and write about other things,” she says. “I feel like this album, as a whole, is positive, but it’s not my so-called ‘happy’ album. Yes, I’m in love and I’m happy in my personal life. But my personal life isn’t the only focus. There aren’t all those unrequited love, ‘I’ve been shot down by a bad boy songs’ … well, there’s one of those … but there are songs about all sorts of things. It’s just a lot easier to stretch these days, 

Indeed, she takes on a number of roles here, from the fallen fighter who narrates the whisper-soft elegy “Soldier’s Song” to the affably hard-nosed kiss-off specialist delivering “Buttercup.” But whatever the topic, Williams’ voice – both literally and figuratively – is unmistakable. It’s a voice that conveys experience without world-weariness, purity of spirit without naiveté – a combination that reaches its zenith on the album’s title track, a poignant acknowledgment of those who bestow blessings upon us each day, whether we know it or not. 

“I had this image in my mind of how a stranger can affect you, and you them, at the same time,” she says. “We have this concept that someone who is less fortunate than we are in some way has nothing to offer us, and that’s not true at all. Everyone has a gift to give as long as you’re willing to accept it, from the girl selling flowers at a Mexican restaurant to the homeless man on the street. It’s all about the hope that there’s good in humanity if you look for it – which is really the feel of the whole album.” 

By the time Blessed’s final notes resound, that hope will not only be clear, it’s likely to be passed on to the listener – paid forward in the most touching way.

Lucinda Williams plays Perth Concert Hall – one of only two Scottish gigs on the tour - on Friday 21 June Tickets.