11

THURSDAY

Since 1992, the year Lucinda Williams released Sweet Old World, she’s won a Grammy, been at work on an album that has a name (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road) but no release date, and seen Tom Petty and the Silos record versions of her “Changed the Locks”—both of which fueled the argument that, with Williams’ work, it really is the singer who makes the song. Her attention to detail and insistence on artistic control are notorious, undoubtedly explaining why it took eight years for her to release her self-titled masterwork, as well as why Wheels has been in limbo for so long. Let’s hope Williams reminds us why she’s always worth waiting for. With R.B. Morris at 7:30 p.m. tonight & tomorrow at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $22.50. (703) 549-7500. (Brett Anderson)