Lucinda Williams Is Master of Subtlety

Lucinda Williams just isn’t the type to work up a sweat on stage. Intimacy is a far more important ingredient to her brand of folk-rock and blues, which builds an atmosphere of emotional grit and longing that would be at home in any honky-tonk. Her blend of wit and wisdom regularly attracts the likes of Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Loveless to her songbook.

At the first show of a three-night engagement at LunaPark on Sunday, Williams and her three-piece band played a no-frills set that was deceptively relaxed. Within the subtle, country-rock shadings were tales of real experience, whether the suicide of an Arkansas poet or a failed romance, sung as sad and mad as a George Jones tune.

Though Williams and the band played some convincing rockers at the end of their hourlong set, they were most effective when gliding at a slower pace. It was there that Williams demonstrated the virtue of restraint, where a well-timed vocal pause or a brief moment of slide guitar can say more than the usual hyper-rock guitar solo cranked up to 11.

* Williams appears tonight at LunaPark, 665 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $8. (310) 652-0611. Also Wednesday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, 8 p.m. $10. (714) 496-8927.