The undisputed Queen of Alternative-Country music, Lucinda Williams, brought her first headlining show to Western New York on April 18th, 2007 at UB’s Center for The Arts. Her previous local shows were as opening acts. Only a few weeks into this tour in support of her latest CD titled West, Williams used a thick lyric notebook that she glanced at often during the show. Professing an almost aw-shucks goofiness she apologized for accidentally coughing during “Ventura” and for playing what seemed like quite a few songs about deceased friends. All that aside her songs are what matters here and she delivered in spades playing “Fruits Of My Labor”, “Pineola” and “Lake Charles” from the past and newer stuff like “Rescue”, “Come On” and “Unsuffer Me”. The band (Doug Pettibone/guitars, David Sutton/bass and Butch Norton/drums) played seamlessly letting the melody and groove of the songs lead you along. The real highlights were “2 Kool 2 B Forgotten”, a seldom played “Sweet Old World” dedicated to a recently deceased friend of Williams and a masterpiece performance of “Cars Wheels On A Gravel Road”. Opener Carrie Rodriguez joined the band for a stunning version of “Joy” and “Everything Has Changed”. Speaking of Rodriguez her opening sixty minute set would have been worth the ticket price alone. The too cool to catch the opening act snobs missed out big time here. Rodriguez and her band (Hans Holzen-electric guitar, Kyle Kegerreis-upright bass and Sammy Baker-drums) turned in a virtuoso performance. Her shy grace with a hint of spunk and beautiful voice won the crowd over. Playing songs from her new CD Seven Angels On A Bicycle she showed she can kick up some dust or break your heart if she wanted to. Highlights included “Before You Say Another Word” a raucous “I Don’t Want To Play House Anymore” that had Rodriguez sawing away at her fiddle and “Never Gonna Be Your Bride”. To get an idea how good she was when her set was over the gentleman next to me stood up and said “I’m gonna go buy her CD after that!”. Well said my friend, well said. For more upcoming shows at Center For The Arts go to www.ubcfa.org  For information about the artists in this review check out www.carrierodriguez.com and www.lucindawilliams.com