Lucinda Williams

Any musician who has ever been courted by a label knows all about the pressure to appeal to the mainstream. Just ask Lucinda Williams. The "Man" has been trying to compromise her sound ever since 1979 with Ramblin' On My Mind (a collection of old country and blues standards). Although the majors tried to coerce Williams to crank out over-produced hit singles for mass quantity consumption by Wal-Mart shoppers, she has stuck to her guns through all these years. Her music is her own: rooted in crafted songs tinged with twang, slide, and the gritty soul of her ragged vocals.