Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams had a stroke in November and, despite an inability to play guitar, she's confident about returning to performing this summer.
Lucinda Williams plans her comeback after a stroke: 'The main thing is I can still sing'
Still rehabbing, she can't play guitar but she can sing.
May 4, 2021 at 1:13PM
The longtime Twin Cities favorite shared her story with rollingstone.com on Monday.
"I feel good and positive about playing again. We've got some shows scheduled with Jason Isbell for late July and we're planning on doing those," Williams told Rolling Stone. "I don't know if I'll stand up and sing or I'll sit down like an old blues person. But we'll figure it out."
Williams suffered the stroke in her Nashville home and spent five weeks rehabbing at a facility affiliated with Vanderbilt Medical Center before returning home.
Unable to play guitar, she walks with a cane because of pain in her left leg and arm. Doctors predict a 100% recovery, according to her husband/manager Tom Overby, a Minnesota native.
Williams' speech was not affected by the stroke. In fact, she recently returned to a Nashville studio to record vocals for a project with Chrissie Hynde.
"It's actually the Rolling Stones song 'Sway,' " Williams said. "She wanted me to try singing and we went in the studio and I did a vocal. That felt good."
Overby told the Star Tribune that he just received a text from Hynde about Williams' contribution. "She loved it," he said. "That was a day brightener."
Despite the pandemic, Williams was productive and visible in 2020. Not only did she release the acclaimed Grammy-nominated album "Good Souls Better Angels," but she performed a series of livestream studio concerts, "Lu's Jukebox," and kicked off the Star Tribune's virtual State Fair grandstand shows last summer.
While still doing therapy, Williams, 68, has written some new lyrics but not composed music for them. Nonetheless, she sounds upbeat.
"The main thing is I can still sing. I'm singing my ass off, so that hasn't been affected," Williams said. "Can't keep me down for too long."
Only one other tour date has been announced after the seven-concert Isbell run — Aug. 14 in Dublin, Ireland. However, Overby expects Williams to play a handful of shows in October and November as well as publishing her memoir in 2022.
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