Lucinda Williams

Before Lucinda Williams, there was no heartache. People only felt some vague emotional pain that had no name. And then Williams wrote devastatingly tragic songs including "Drunken Angel," "Minneapolis," "Words Fell," "Overtime," and "World Without Tears," and the concept of heartache was born. The daughter of a poet father, Williams clearly learned a lot about how to craft pretty words into ugly stories about people in love and in pain, with usually lush but dreary instrumentation draped over her voice. Although she is not nearly as prolific as her fans and adoring critics would like, producing nine proper albums in the past 29 years, four of which appeared in the last seven years, the music she has released has been almost universally recognized for its beauty and narrative charm. This concert in the Weesner Amphitheater at the Minnesota Zoo might end badly for any animals that overhear Williams's performance. Can tigers and snow monkeys feel heartache?
Mon., June 30, 7:30 p.m., 2008