Bo Ramsey; Lucinda's guitar players

David Elbert (elbert@jhu.edu)
Fri, 3 Jul 1998 14:15:39 -0400 (EDT)

A couple of posts recently asked if Jim Lauderdale was playing guitar on
Lucinda Williams' new CD and mentioned that one of her "band members", Bo
Ramsey would be on Conan O'Brien's show in July. I just wanted to weigh in
with two quick things about these points: First, yes Jim Lauderdale is all
over the new album, but he is far from the only guitar to be heard. In
fact, longtime Williams' sideman, Gurf Morlix and longtime Greg Brown
collaborator, Bo Ramsey both are all over the CD as well. Jim Lauderdale
may make his biggest contribution by being the male harmony vocal that made
it through most of the final mixes.

As to Bo Ramsey, I mentioned above his longtime association with Greg
Brown, the non-musical highlight of which, to me, has to be the fine
picture of Greg and Bo on the back of the most recent Greg Brown CD, Slant
Six Mind. The same photo is on Bo's web site (http://www.boramsey.com).
And when you pop the CD out of the jewel box on Lucinda Williams' Car
Wheels On A Gravel Road, you may notice that she is wearing a straw cowboy
hat very damned similar to that Bo wears in the picture with Greg Brown!
Hmmm... perhaps more investigation is required....

Finally, many of you are certainly aware that we have been waiting a long
time for this new Lucinda Williams album. There has been lots of press
(articles in the NY Times and Washington Post in the last year) recounting
how difficult the production process was. Guitarists came and went,
producers came and went, vocalists came and went. I have heard that the
album was essentially done two previous times and then Lucinda wanted
significant changes in direction ro inspiration. I was wondering if anyone
on the list really knows the "true" story and history behind the release
and might summarize it in a post. Steve Earle and the twangtrust certainly
seemed to do a fine job in the end, but I wonder how different the mixes
would have been with a few fewer musicians involved...some of the parts are
mixed so low that they barely contribute. It is certainly an interesting
chance to see a bit of the struggle that can go with the production of art.

Best,
David Elbert
elbert@jhu.edu