NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Legendary singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams suffered a stroke in November 2020 that left her hospitalized for five weeks, the roots-music icon revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Williams, 67 at the time, was rushed to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, where she spent a week in the intensive care unit and doctors discovered a blood clot on the right side of her brain that affected the left side of her body, the magazine reported.
Home now in Nashville after a month in a rehabilitation center, Williams has spent the past six months working with therapists to “retrain” her brain, walks with a cane and is unable to play guitar “due to lingering pain on the left side of her body,” Variety reported.
Williams, who was slated to play at this weekend’s Mile 0 Fest in Key West, Florida, but canceled the performance late last month, expects to return to the stage mid-summer to open for Jason Isbell in a series of shows, the outlet reported.
“The main thing is I can still sing. … Can’t keep me down for too long,” Williams told Rolling Stone.
Williams’ husband, Tom Overby, told the magazine that the doctors must agree because her prognosis is a 100% recovery with zero evidence of brain damage suffered.
“I feel good and positive about playing again. We’ve got some shows scheduled with Jason Isbell for late July, and we’re planning on doing those,” Williams told Rolling Stone, adding, “I don’t know if I’ll stand up and sing or I’ll sit down like an old blues person. But we’ll figure it out.”
Williams — a three-time Grammy Award-winning songwriter “known for a lasting influence on modern country and Americana storytellers” — released her latest record, “Good Souls Better Angels,” in April 2020, The Tennessean reported.
Read the complete interview here.