Lucinda Williams Announces ‘Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You’ Memoir
The volume will be out via Crown on April 25.
Lucinda Williams has announced the 2023 publication of a memoir, to be titled Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You. The volume will be out via Crown on April 25.
In a statement, the award-winning Americana trailblazer, 17-time Grammy nominee and three-time winner says: “For decades now, I’ve shared my innermost thoughts and experiences via my songs. After years spent toying with the idea, I’ve decided to finally tell my stories more fully. But this won’t be a sugar-coated memoir; I want people to really see the truth of my life.”
Publicity for the book describes the memoir as “an evocative reflection on an extraordinary woman’s life journey.” It will describe her “traumatic” childhood growing up in the Deep South, her struggle to be heard in the music business and the stories that fuelled some of her best-known songs.
The book synopsis goes on to say that it “takes readers through the events that shaped [Williams’] music – from performing for family friends in her living room to singing at local high schools and colleges in Mexico City, to recording her first album with Folkway Records and headlining a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall.
“She reveals the inspirations for her unforgettable lyrics, including the doomed love affairs with “poets on motorcycles” and the gothic southern landscapes of the many different towns of her youth, including Macon, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Williams spent years working at health food stores and record stores during the day so she could play her music at night, and faced record companies who told her that her music was not ‘finished,’ that it was ‘too country for rock and too rock for country.’”
Williams’ career achievements also include two Americana Awards from 12 nominations, and her International Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association UK, presented this past January. Last month, she became the of BMI’s 2022 Troubadour Award.
Listen to the best of Lucinda Williams on Apple Music and Spotify.
