Lucinda Williams Rocks Out to ‘You Can’t Rule Me’ on ‘Colbert’

Lucinda Williams tore through a live rendition of “You Can’t Rule Me” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Wednesday night.

Seated in a studio at an appropriate social distance, Williams and her band showcased the Good Souls Better Angels track’s blues-rock grit, head-bobbing to the beat and letting each guitar solo rip through the room. Williams herself brought her best snarl to the number: “You wanna go and tell me what’s good for me/You wanna tell me what I’m payin’ for/Well, the game is fixed, it’s plain to see/I ain’t playin’ no more.”

Williams released Good Souls Better Angels this past April. In addition to making the late night rounds, she recently performed on a tribute livestream for Joe Strummer’s birthday along with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir and more. She’s scheduled to go on tour with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in summer 2021.

In a July interview on Chris Shiflett’s podcast Walking the Floor, Williams addressed the political message of her latest album, saying she had always wanted to work social commentary into her music — she just didn’t know how.

“People go, ‘How come, all of a sudden, you have songs like that?’” she told Shiflett. “I’ve wanted to do it before…but they are harder songs to write. It’s much easier to write an unrequited love song, and that’s what most singer/songwriters write about.”