Q: Lucinda, when did you know that Essence would be the album's title track'

A: Well, it was after we had already done the record. I was going to call it Broken Butterflies at first. But then I think what made me change my mind was when we' we were working on the single for Essence and we did the artwork and everything. And the cover that we used for the single is a beautiful photograph of these flowers, real close up, sort of a Georgia O' Keefe kind of a thing. Real bright colors and, of course, the title Essence over the flowers and everything. And I was really taken with that cover for the single. And we tried putting the words "Broken Butterflies" over the flowers. And we thought about using the flowers and putting butterflies on the flowers. And it just -- nothing was working, you know. And I kept looking at this single just looked so good just the way it was, with "Essence" and the whole essence of the flower and all that, how it all ties together. And finally, I just said, 'Why don't we just call it Essence' Why don't we just call the album Essence, and just go with it'' So as soon as I told everyone that, they all said -- they were all so delighted because everyone was wishing I would call the record Essence. Secretly, they didn't really think Broken Butterflies was right for it. And another reason was because every time people would ask me, 'What's the name of the record'' And I'd say, 'Broken Butterflies,' and they would kind of look at me sort of like 'huh'' And I'd say, 'Well, when you hear the song, you'll understand.' But then I thought, I want it to be kind of self-explanatory. I want them to hear the name Essence and just -- because when people hear that word, they just know.

Q: Have the songs on Essence been percolating for years or did they come pretty quick'

A: Some of them came quickly and some of them were songs that I finished that I'd started years ago. Actually, "Out of Touch" I first wrote in Austin in 1981, if you can believe that. That's how long I've had that song percolating. And it's gone through all kinds of changes. And somehow it finally came together for this record.

Q: When the songs come -- how do you get out of your own way to receive them, because they seem pure and universal'

A: Yeah. That's part of the art. I don't know, it's hard to explain. I almost have to go into a Zen-like meditative state when I write, you know. And I really do get in that kind of state. And I go in and the reason I know something's working is because I - - it makes me -- it affects me physically. I actually start to cry a lot of times when I'm writing, when I get to that place inside the song. And that's when I know it's working.

Q:The songs on Essence , some of them have a different tact for you lyrically. For some, you've let go of the narrative and they're kind of impressionistic like these images on "Lonely Girls". Was the shift kind of natural'

A: Yeah, it was. I wasn't thinking of that consciously. I don't know. I hadn't finished a new song in five years when I wrote these songs. So, when I started writing, I just kind of let it all come out and it just came out that way. And at first, I wasn't sure even myself because, I was so used to writing in the narrative style that I kind of questioned whether they were good enough. But then I was able to transcend that and just let them go and let them kind of be what they were. And I started playing them for people and people responded real positively. And you know, so it was real liberating in the end because I was able to just kind of go into this other place with the writing that I hadn't really done much like that before. So it felt good to be able to just, you know, write something with just real basic, simple lyrics and let the music do the talking.

Q:Lucinda, your vocals on this album seem more open that ever. They're vulnerable, sensual. Is singing in the studios becoming easier for you as you make more albums'

A: Yeah, it's beginning to. I think when I made Car Wheels was really the first time that I felt really good about my vocal sound. So when I made this record, I wanted to make sure I had a similar kind of sound in the studio. And I was singing through a really great mic and working with a great engineer, Tom Tucker, and --- who understood that. I mean, part of it is because I'm starting to write songs more for my voice. And that's been kind of a learning experience. I mean, I used to not make the connection between the songs I was writing and my voice, my range and everything you know. And I was writing songs more like [sings title] "Passionate Kisses". You know, that kind of -- and you know, [sings title] "The Night's Too Long". And on this record, I was writing the songs more like -- they're easier to sing. I mean, they're more sitting down -- it's almost like a jazz approach more.

Q:Your vocals have gone to a new place on the album Essence. And on the album, too, the instrumentation, to me, I thought of a tapestry, because the individual instruments, they're tightly woven, they blend. It's rare that things kind of pop out. How did the sound of the album Essence evolve and become so unique'

A: I don't know how it happened. I have to give Charlie Sexton a lot of credit for that.

Q: He produced the album

A: Right. He co-produced the album. It was really a team effort. Bo Ramsey was real instrumental in establishing the base for the songs. He came to Nashville and we demoed the songs. We made this acoustic demo that everybody loved. I mean, Luke Lewis at the label was even saying at one point, 'Let's just put the demos out.' So we already had a certain vibe going, before we went in with the band. And when we recorded each song, we used the demos as a reference point. And we made sure we never strayed too far from the vibe on the demo because we captured -- it's a magical thing that happened when I demoed these songs with Bo. We kind of got into the thing of each song and the Zen thing of it. So we kept that going through the record. And then when Charlie came in, he was really instrumental in just kind of like adding, sort of like a puzzle. Like, he would sit and listen to this song and say, 'What could this song use to just make it even a little bit better.' He was just real good at building each song. Just taking it to that next step. But it was already there. Bo was with me in the beginning, establishing the thing of it, the Zen of it. And then Charlie came in and sort of went off on this whole other real experimental kind of direction. He put this Ringo style drum fill on "Steal Your Love". He put a six-string bass on "Essence". And so it just grew sort of organically that way.

Q:When you have these demos already and then you have players coming in like Jim Keltner, David Mansfield, Tony Garnier'
A: Reese Wynans'

Q:How do you instruct or direct the musicians to -- the vibe that's already there. Was that kind of you and Charlie just guiding them through it'
A: Well, see, Charlie wasn't really quote unquote producing the record until towards the end when we were doing overdubs. That's when I brought him in as a producer. Before that, he was a guitar player. So he wasn't really making those kinds of suggestions in the beginning. But -- I mean, I didn't really tell anybody what to do that much. There was very little direction. This is one of those kind of things -- you know, these guys are all so intuitive that we basically -- we cut all the basic tracks in six days. And we pretty much just went through the songs boom, boom, boom. And I would just go in with my guitar -- I mean, the guys, of course, had the demos of the songs. But there was very little rehearsing them. We didn't have any rehearsals at all. We just went in and -- there's a lot of first-take stuff.

Q:In listening to (the song) "Blue", it seems that "Blue" is as much of a place as a feeling. Do you spend a lot of time in "Blue"'

A: Yeah, I do. (Pause.)

Q:Lucinda, I said that "Blue" could be thought of as a place and you concurred. You've lived in a lot of places, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Chili, LA, and now Nashville. You traveled when you were little because of your father's job. Is that why constant motion seems to be a constant with you even now'

A: Yeah'probably. Yeah I'm always kind of looking ahead.

Q: So constant motion is a constant with you, but when I'm listening to say, "Bus to Baton Rouge" on Essence , I feel like you have had many homes, but Louisiana is the home in your heart.

A: Yeah, that's probably true, yeah.

Q:Why'

A: I think because, as Neil Young said, "all my changes were there". Even though -- I only lived there for a few years, it seems like a lifetime. I started playing guitar there. I feel in love for the first time there. The first time I ever smoked pot was there. I mean, all these things, you know. And I was in demonstrations. I got kicked out of high school and just -- you know, I discovered Bob Dylan. I discovered The Doors, I discovered Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell. I mean, it all happened for me just in a space of a few years there.

Q: Your father's job and the way you traveled influenced the fact that you like to move around a lot. He's a poet and an English lit professor. I don't know much about your mom'

A: Well, my mother is from Louisiana. I mean, her family is all from there. And her father was a Methodist minister. And my dad's father was a Methodist minister. And they both grew up traveling. My mother's family traveled regionally in Louisiana. My dad's family traveled in Arkansas. So it kind of started there. My mother played piano. She was a music major at LSU when she met my dad. So I think the musical stuff, genetically, comes from her.

Q: There are three songs at the end of Essence that are very spiritual. You speak in one of them about having in your house while growing up books about being saved.

A: Well, that's at my grandmother's house in Baton Rouge. My mother's house.

Q:So is it that religious atmosphere you had growing up that we hear in the song "Get Right With God"'

A: Well, I mean, I'm sure there's some of that. It started there. Both of my grandfathers are Methodist ministers. My mother's father was quite a bit more fundamentalist. You know, hell-fire, brimstone. My dad's father was much more liberal. Even though they were both Methodist. But I grew up in an agnostic household. So I think it was all of these things. We went to the Unitarian Church. I've always been on a spiritual path. I've always been interested in different kinds of religions and spirituality and everything. And I lived with a Christian man, a believer, you know, for five years. And when I moved to Tennessee, I got really fascinated with the whole Pentecostal, snake-handling -- it's almost like a cult, if you will, sort of thing. I discovered this photographer named Shelby Lee Adams who has a book called Appalachian Portraits. And he's gone up into Kentucky, into that area, and taken a lot of photographs of snake handlers. And he sent me a video of a snake-handling ceremony. And I've read books on it. And I've just become fascinated with the whole thing because of the passion in it. And the faith and the passion. And I guess the song is -- I mean, it's really more like a painting. It's kind of like a Fenster piece of art. I don't know. It's hard to explain because it's a combination of things. I mean, I am trying to get right with God. And in a way, I'm kind of saying, if that's what it would take, I would do that. If I thought that -- drinking strychnine would get me right with God, then yeah, I'm there. I mean, I'll sleep on a bed of nails. I'll do whatever. It's not about I'm a born-again Christian or something. It's just more about exploring another avenue of spirituality.

Q: Lucinda, I was thinking about your first album in 1979, Rambling on my Mind . You did classic gospel songs like "You're Going to Need that True Religion".

A: Mmm mmm. "Great Speckled Bird".

Q: "Satisfied Mind". How did you come up with "Get Right With God", because it's a modern gospel song, but you avoided making it just like a genre exercise'

A : Right. Well, I think I was trying to get to that old style stuff that I grew up with. Really more like a Mississippi Fred McDowell style gospel song, like a gospel blues song kind of a thing. Like something Jesse Mae Hemphill would do. Or Memphis Minnie. It was really a tip of the hat to that kind -- that style of stuff.

Q: And at the same time, you were talking about the folk art, the artist you mentioned, Fenster'

A: Yeah, Fenster and some of the other folk artists. I collect that kind of stuff, that religious folk art, I guess you'd call it. So the song, to me, is more like a folk art -- religious folk art painting.

Q:We talked before about your early years. Do you feel like as an adult you've had to sacrifice personal things like relationships or -- well, just had to sacrifice as an adult to pursue your artistic vision' Did you have to'

A: I don't know. That's kind of a hard question. I guess, maybe in a way. I mean, I never had children. But that was my own choice. I don't think I really sat there and thought, okay, I can't have children because I'm going to be a musician. I mean, they're really two separate decisions.

Q:Essence is your sixth album in 22 years. You've had to deal with record companies folding, leaving labels, all the usual music industry crap. And yet, your music still rings true. Did you ever lose faith that your work would be heard as widely as it is now'

A: No, I never did lose faith. Something always kept me going. I don't know. I think the support of all my friends and family over the years is what kept me going.

Q:Is that your personality, though, just to kind of roll with the punches'

A: Just roll along with it and just go. Yeah.

Q: Essence is one of the first releases on a new label called Lost Highway. And they seem tailor-made to deal with artists instead of commodities. But did you still feel pressure following up 1998 Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,' I mean, it went gold, it won a Grammy.

A: Yeah, I did. I felt a lot of -- just within myself. No one else was putting pressure on me, but I did feel a certain, a certain kind of pressure to follow up with that after that.

Q:On Car Wheels, there were songs that were -- well, you said in interviews they were about specific people, like "Drunken Angel" perhaps for Blaze Foley and "Lake Charles" for Clyde, an old boyfriend of yours. The (new) song "Out of Touch" wouldn't have been out of place on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road .

A: No, not at all.

Q: Is it about anyone specific'

A: Not really about anyone specific. I think it's more about the state of our society now. You know, with living in this computerized, digital, high-technological age that we're in. And just losing touch with people.

Q: "Out of Touch" has a very narrative quality to it. Were there any feelings or books that inspired you or you used as touch tones while you were writing this batch of songs. You mentioned one earlier, Shelby --

A: Oh, yeah. Shelby Lee Adams is this photographer I discovered who does a lot of Appalachian photography, black and white. And his stuff has really inspired me quite a bit. And also, Bernie Imes.

Q:Who's that'

A: He's another photographer. He has a book out called "Juke Joint". And I mentioned both of them whenever I sang that song "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten". I used to -- that song in itself was taken from some images from both of those books of photography.

Q:That also makes sense because the record has so many images -- and as far as musical influences, it's out there by itself. It stands alone.

A: Thank you. That's quite a compliment.

Q:Well, Lucinda, it's been a privilege to get in touch with you and gain some insight into the new album Essence because it really moved me emotionally. The song that closes Essence is called "Broken Butterflies". It's a very poetic song. Did you show "Broken Butterflies" to your father -- we mentioned earlier he was a poet -- either while you were writing it or after you finished it?

A: While I was -- after I finished it, I showed it to him.

Q: What was his reaction?

A: He was a little concerned about the Christ line.

Q: Because he thought it was offensive or --

A: Well, the original line was, let's see, I was going to put, "But the blood that flows from my side, the blood that covers me nourishes the butterflies and they're healed and are set free." And he suggested that that might not be a good image because it sort of puts me on the same level as Christ, almost, you know, because the blood flowed from Christ's side. So I changed it to "The blood that flows, I cannot hide," instead of "The blood that flows from my side." I mean, I just love all the biblical imagery. I was using it to get a point across. Christ in the song is another person who suffered and went through some stuff. You know, it's not a religious song. It's just more -- I'm using biblical figures to illustrate a point, because all of these people in here had their sort of test and things that they went through and all of that.

Q: The images on "Broken Butterflies" are stunning. They're intense. They're vivid. They're bright. They're dark. And I won't ask you to explain them because I think people should just experience the song for themselves. But there's a central line, "Tumbling from your mouth, a flurry of broken butterflies." What was the situation when that came to you?

A: I have no idea. I don't know. It's just something that happens when I'm writing. Just these things come to me. You know, these visions and images and...
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