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"I recorded a lot of these songs here in the house," the Lousiana-born artist is saying down the line from her recently purchased, studio-equipped home in California's Joshua Tree National Park.
"And I think that was the tape that (co-producer) Trina (Shoemaker) heard. She wanted to capture the up-close-ness feeling of it and yet bring her recording prowess to it, because Mark and I, we didn't know much about how to run the equipment. We're still learning, actually."
(Mark is Williams' husband Mark Olson, formerly of The Jayhawks, who'll be among those playing with Williams tonight at the Phoenix.)
Adding to the album's intimate feel, the muse for the standout song, Grandpa In The Cornpatch, is Williams' own 94-year-old grandfather. The liner notes include black and white pictures of him, one in the cornpatch, the other circa 1927 in the arms of his wife.
"It's kind of a tribute to him, isn't it, this record," says Williams. "He seems to be waiting for my grandmother to die before he'll die. They just celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary last week."
TEARY REACTION
As for their reaction to the song, Williams says it got a rather teary reception all around.
"I don't know if it's registered with him, but my grandmother really loves it. She started crying. When I took my record home and played it for the first time for my brother and my mother and my sister and my grandmother and my cousin, sitting in this room, all of us were just crying. I had never cried listening to that song, but sitting with them and looking across, and seeing that my brother was starting to cry, you know, it's a happy, sweet sadness. At first I thought, 'Gosh, have I been really selfish here putting this personal thing on this record?' But I've since changed my mind."
As for the rest of Musings -- a startling collection of often melancholy narratives that incorporate a musical hybrid of folk, pop, jazz, blues and country -- it might finally be the album to raise Williams' profile. Her current status is musician's musician rather than mainstream artist.
"I don't read reviews, but verbally, I've been given many accolades. I feel very fortunate," says Williams. "It seems people really like it. I know that Trina just loves it, that's very good. She just puts her whole being into anything that she's working on and I really loved working with her. She just can't say enough good about this record." As for the album's quirky title, Williams says it has a Canadian connection.
"When I was working in Oxnard, up at (Canadian producer Daniel) Lanois' studio, I was going out to go swimming in the creeks up there. This gal -- actually a Canadian gal (Lynn Rosenblood) -- she snaps this picture of me, which is on the cover. And when I saw the picture, I said, 'Oh, that would be a really nice cover, I'm going to call my record Musings Of A Creekdipper.' "
MS DIAGNOSIS
Williams, you may recall, was diagnosed in the early '90s with multiple sclerosis, which led to the 1993 all-star tribute album Sweet Relief, which featured Pearl Jam, Lou Reed and Soul Asylum, among others, covering Williams' tunes to raise money for her medical bills.
"I'm feeling pretty good," she says of her health these days. "You just gotta take care every day. I'm doing the newer treatment for MS and it's just a shot you do. I've been on it for seven months and it seems like it's doing pretty good."