Lucinda Williams Feted at BMI Troubadour Award Dinner by Jason Isbell, Angel Olsen, More

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic On the eve of AmericanaFest in Nashville, Lucinda Williams was celebrated at BMI’s headquarters as the recipient of the performing rights organization’s annual Troubadour Award, where an invitation-only crowd heard Williams’ songs covered by Jason Isbell, Angel Olsen, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Amos Lee and Madeline Edwards.

Other artists saluted Williams via taped congratulations, like Robert Plant and Dwight Yoakam, who called giving Williams the lifetime achievement award “long overdue.” Maybe it wasn’t that long overdue: Williams is only the fourth artist to get the Troubadour honor since it was instituted in 2017, following in the footsteps of John Prine, John Hiatt and Robert Earl Keen. “Thanks to everyone for making me feel at home here in Nashville after moving from L.A.,” Williams said in accepting the award at a ceremony held in the oversized lobby of BMI’s Music Row branch. “I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve made some great friends and everybody’s been very supportive, and it feels like family.” Performing with a house band, Isbell brought along the 400 Unit’s co-lead guitarist, Sadler Vaden, to join him on the honoree’s sorrowful “Drunken Angel,” while Lee did another elegaic song from Williams’ catalog, “Little Angel, Little Brother.” Olsen took on “Fruits of My Labor,” relative newcomer Edwards covered “Passionate Kisses” (a hit for Mary Chapin Carpenter), and Gibbons got his licks in on a feistier classic, “Changed the Locks.” Williams, who was helped to the stage but appeared healthy as she continues to recover from a 2020 stroke, had plenty of appreciative words, starting off with effusive praise for her publicist, Jim Flammia — now there’s a rarity