Lucinda Williams is one of those Americana icons in the tradition of Johnny Cash, a singer-songwriter who fights for social justice and the disenfranchised. She’s spent years working with Amnesty International, and dedicated hundreds of hours to prevent convicted killer David Lee Powell’s execution in 2010. Her efforts failed, but it reaffirmed Williams’s fight against the death penalty and for fairer prison conditions.
So Williams was something of a natural fit when producers of the new documentary on the West Memphis Three, West of Memphis, sought contributions for the soundtrack, West of Memphis: Voices for Justice (streaming now on CBC Music). Williams told CBC Music how Johnny Depp brought her into the project, about capital punishment and the complicated case that continues to captivate.
