Williams overcomes adversity for Roxy show, musical career
By Jeff Hilger
The most amazing thing about Victoria Williams is that neither
her music nor her voice fit neatly into any definable musical
category. In her show Thursday night at the Roxy, she displayed her
vast range of styles, from piano ballad to guitar pop, Celtic jig,
bayou twang, reverent gospel and numerous others.
Her gift for songwriting enables her to create original melodies
coupled with lyrics that either tell vivid stories or paint clear
pictures of different aspects of her own life.
How many young songwriters, after releasing only two albums of
material, have had a tribute album released featuring the likes of
Lou Reed, Pearl Jam, Matthew Sweet, the Waterboys, Michelle Shocked
and Maria McKee? The answer: only one, Victoria Williams
Why did so many respected artists tribute a woman virtually
unknown? The answer is twofold. First, a few years ago Williams
found out that she had multiple sclerosis, a powerfully
debilitating disease that degenerates one’s central nervous system.
As most young musicians have no medical insurance, Williams had no
money for medical bills. Those involved with Sweet Relief: A
Benefit for Victoria Williams decided to donate their talents to
helping their ailing friend.
Secondly, those artists cherished the opportunity to perform her
music due to the fact that she writes simply beautiful melodic
patterns alongside heartfelt, interesting, powerful, poetic
lyrics
The atmosphere at the sold-out Roxy was hopeful and encouraging
as Williams took the stage. She opened by talking openly with her
audience, very informally and off-the-cuff explaining that she had
played last night and would try to play a mostly different set list
tonight.
During the concert, she included most of the material from her
newest, third album, Loose. The opening track of that disc served
as her second number, "Century Plant," a typically catchy Williams’
tune that combines a strong melody with a storyline about an
81-year-old plant worker looking back on parts of his life.
From there, her six-piece band, which included a cello and a
viola, went into an Irish-folk sounding version of "Frying Pan," a
song that sounds like it could’ve been written by Neil Young.
She followed that with two more of her most powerful creations,
"Love," a beautiful pop ballad from her new release, and "Crazy
Mary," the Williams song that the largest number of people have
heard, due to Pearl Jam’s version of it that appeared on the
tribute album. The powerful tune tells the story of one of
society’s forgotten: "She lived in the curve in the road, an old
tar paper shack … sometimes on the way into town we’d say, ‘Mama
can we stop and give her a ride?’ Sometimes we did, but she shook
her head and her hands flew from her side, wild eyed crazy
Mary."
The two-hour, 15-minute showcase continued with strong material
throughout, including several pop standards, yet another genre that
interests Williams. These numbers included Gershwin’s "Someone to
Watch Over Me," and "Smoke Gets in your Eyes." Several of her
friends from the audience joined her onstage for duets, including
Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, who co-sang "My Ally," and "Summer of
Drugs," the song they recorded for the benefit album.
Toward the middle of the set, she performed "Nature’s Way,"
Spirit’s ’60s rock tune. While she followed the song with a comment
about how human nature destroys the earth’s topsoil, she has
previously stated that the song touches on nature’s way of dealing
with her own illness.
The end of the concert brought her two most powerful moments.
Another duet on, "I Can’t Cry Hard Enough," brought tears to
Williams’ eyes, as well as those of many in her audience. After
several gospel-flavored tunes, she closed with "Holy Spirit," a
song that heavily incorporates melody and lyrics from the
campfire-closing standard "Kum By Ya," a perfect ending to a
powerful showing of the strength of Williams, a songwriter of
consistency and grace.