TORONTO -- How cool is alt-country's Lucinda Williams?

 Well, she dedicated

 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten from her Grammy-winning 1998 album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, to the late, lamented punk pioneer Joey Ramone during her concert last night at Massey Hall.

 And later, she explained how another song, Drunken Angel, also from Car Wheels, was originally written about Austin songwriter Blaze Foley, but could have easily been about Townes Van Zandt or Kurt Cobain.

 Universal

 "Unfortunately, these are universal songs," Williams said of the trio of hard-living, acclaimed songwriters who are all dead.

 Truthfully, it took Williams, decked out in a Blondie T-shirt, form-fitting leather pants and a straw cowboy hat, playing either an acoustic or electric guitar, a while to get going.

 The second half of the 85-minute show was a vast improvement over the first as she and her excellent four-piece band, including first-rate guitarist Bo Ramsey, a collaborator on her new week-old album, Essence, finally got things cooking with soulful bluesy rockers like Are You Down, Changed The Locks and Joy.

 Williams' first couple of songs, Metal Firecracker, the title track from Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and Right On Time were oddly flat sounding and emotionless.

 And her voice, a lived-in, scratchy instrument, often sounded too loud in the sound mix.

 Still, she did tell some funny stories like how Good Morning America tried to censor Right On Time, for the lyrics "lie on my back and moan at the ceiling."

 Naturally, she refused: "I either do the whole thing or I don't do the show."

 Then there was the one about the sex shop right beside the venue she played in Montreal the night before the Massey Hall gig.

 Williams, you may have guessed, isn't shy about lust and longing as exemplified by so many of the songs she writes.

 Others standouts last night included Out Of Touch from Essence, plus the title track from the new album, the encore number, Down The Big Road Blues -- featuring just Williams and Ramsey -- and the kickass spiritual Get Right With God.

 This is music to play in your car, parked in a field late at night while staring up at the stars.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5 (More on: Lucinda Williams).