WEST HOLLYWOOD — Lucinda Williams already had two strikes against her before ambling coolly on stage recently at a sweltering House of Blues wearing a white Stetson and black leather jacket.
First, she arrived 45 minutes past the advertised time, which meant the crowd had been standing shoulder-to-shoulder emitting so much steam there was danger of rain.
Then there was the insufferable introduction inflicted by a nameless radio personality who rambled on about the Louisiana-bred country-rock singer-songwriter's music and lyrics as if the audience jammed into the poorly ventilated West Hollywood venue hadn't the slightest notion who was headlining.
It didn't take long, though, for Williams and her superb quartet to erase these humiliations. Opening with a restrained but rocking "Metal Firecracker" from her 1998 Grammy-winning breakthrough album, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," Williams dispelled any lingering bad vibes with a tight, perfectly paced set of rootsy old favorites and extraordinary new tunes.
Williams is a class act with a casually sardonic stage manner that makes everyone feel included. She's also one of the best songwriters working, and numbers like the title track of "Essence," her recently issued sixth album, are as compelling as such decade-old gems as "Sweet Old World" and "Side of the Road."
Before moving on to the striking recent numbers "Reason to Cry" and "Lonely Girls," Williams gave a sensual reading of the gorgeous "Right in Time" from "Car Wheels," her weathered twang craggy and conversational.
Somehow, the 48-year-old Williams had the normally talkative House of Blues crowd quiet, perhaps because her band, anchored by excellent bassist Taras Prodaniuk, kept the volume low, forcing concentration and curtailing chat.
Among the night's most riveting moments came with "Essence," a rocky six-minute masterpiece with a haunting melody that makes you want to come back for more.
Great stuff. But next time, Lucinda, play the Wiltern.