This is a book about the album that Lucinda Williams says her fans cite most often as their favourite, and the one that Williams herself is still trying to recreate."There's a million stories, dude. You could write a book ten feet thick." Those were the words of Richard Price, former bass player for and boyfriend of Lucinda Williams, in an interview the author conducted with him in 2002 for "Harp" magazine.The album was recorded over just a few days in a tiny Santa Monica studio, but was really the fruit of an intense three years in the life of a then-unknown songwriter and her band, playing tiny L.A. dives, building up a local following, and honing their songs. In those years, Lucinda says, "a magical thing happened". The result, from a songwriter's standpoint, was one of the great records of the last 25 years. The disc is packed with vivid characters - most of them tough, wise and romantic, and sometimes uncertain, working-class women not unlike Lucinda herself."33 1/3" is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys.
Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 50 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike.