The Americana songwriting icon will release Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You in 2023
In her song “Metal Firecracker,” Lucinda Williams pleaded with her traveling companion not to reveal any of the secrets they talked about on their journey. But in 2023, Williams herself will share those untold stories in a new memoir titled after that lyric in the Car Wheels on a Gravel Road song: Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You.
Due April 25, 2023, via Random House Group’s Crown imprint, the autobiography traces Williams career, beginning with her tough, on-the-move childhood in the South where she accumulated the memories that would shape her songwriting to come. The book follows Williams as she records genre-defining albums like her 1988 self-titled LP for Rough Trade and 1998’s Car Wheels, and sells out famous venues like New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You will be released in hardcover, digitally, and as an audio book.
The memoir announcement comes on the heels of Williams being honored with the BMI Troubadour Award in September. The Nashville gala featured artists like Jason Isbell, Billy Gibbons, and Madeline Edwards singing some of Williams’ songs. Earlier this week, the Americana icon performed at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre to support state senator Heidi Campbell, Democrat candidate for U.S. Congress in Tennessee’s 5th district. She’s set to return to the road in January for a European tour.