if you go:Who: Lucinda WilliamsWhen: 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 Where: The Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, 23 S. Central, MedfordCost: $39, $35 and $25 (children) Tickets: at the box office, the Music Coop in Ashland or at mkpmusic.com on the Web. Call 779-3000.

The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter will be joined by guitarist and background singer Doug Pettibone from her band.

Williams’ management says she will perform a number of new songs she has written for a new album to be recorded this year.

Although she is closely identified with the Austin, Texas, music scene, Williams’ music defies categories to an unusual degree. Grounded in country, they mix blues, folk and rock with poetic lyrics.

Williams comes by the poetry honestly. She’s the eldest child of poet Miller Williams ("The Ways We Touch"). Her first two albums for Smithsonian/Folkways didn’t set the world on fire, but they acquired discerning fans. She hit her stride with her self-titled debut for the Rough Trade label in 1988. Patty Loveless covered the album’s "The Night’s Too Long," and Mary-Chapin Carpenter covered "Passionate Kisses," both from the album. Both were hits, and the latter won Williams a 1992 Grammy.

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That was the year Williams released "Sweet Old World," which placed her squarely in the middle of the Americana movement. But it was in 1998 that she really broke through to a larger audience with "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." The CD sold well, wound up on a ton of essential album lists and won another Grammy.

The laid-back "Essence" (2000) prompted Time magazine to name Williams "America’s Best Songwriter."

Her last studio album, "World Without Tears," is a real genre-bender. In a husky voice that seems to gain both power and nuance with time, the singer offered up styles that ranged from "Atonement," a swamp-boogying critique aimed at self-righteous Bible brandishers, to "Sweet Side," a Dylan-esque song that captures the elusive upside of a tough relationship.

Throw in "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" with its "Exile on Main Street"-era Stones grittiness, and you have a CD that takes no prisoners.

"Each song has a different flavor, and reflects some of my influences," Williams said simply.

The album was recorded live for the most part, with a minimum of studio wizardry. After "World Without Tears" came a live album, this year’s "Lucinda Williams: Live at the Fillmore (Lost Highway)." That album mixed songs from "World Without Tears," "Essence," "Car Wheels" and more. It’s testimony that Williams sounds as good live as she does in the studio.