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Lucinda Williams' memoir of childhood, career out April 25

NEW YORK (AP) — Arguably one of the music world's most articulate and introspective performers, Lucinda Williams has a memoir coming out next spring.
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FILE - Lucinda Williams performs at the MusiCares Person of the Year tribute honoring Tom Petty in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2017. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Arguably one of the music world's most articulate and introspective performers, Lucinda Williams has a memoir coming out next spring.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has a deal with Crown for "Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You," scheduled for April 25. Williams, 69, will look back to her wandering childhood, when she lived in 12 different places by age 18, and trace her rise in the music business. Her albums include “Sweet Old World,” “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” and “Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone.”

“For decades now, I’ve shared my innermost thoughts and experiences via my songs,“ Williams said in a statement released Thursday by Crown. “After years spent toying with the idea, I’ve decided to finally tell my stories more fully. But this won’t be a sugar-coated memoir; I want people to really see the truth of my life.”

According to Crown, Williams “reveals the inspirations for her unforgettable lyrics, including the doomed love affairs with ‘poets on motorcycles’ and the gothic Southern landscapes of the many different towns of her youth, including Macon, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.”

A Crown spokesperson said Thursday that Williams recently completed the book, but ends the narrative before her stroke in 2020. Williams originally had a deal, in 2018, to write a memoir for Henry Holt and Company. The editor at Holt, Gillian Blake, has since moved to Crown, for which she acquired Williams' book.

The Associated Press