Somewhere in everyone's head," wrote Miller Williams, "something points toward home." For millions of alt-country fans, the music of that poet's daughter, Lucinda Williams, is one of those things. When Mary Chapin Carpenter covered her "Passionate Kisses" in 1993, it won Ms. Williams a Grammy for Country Song of the Year, but her own growling moan is as distinctive a voice as any in America's canon. Her Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is a certified classic with a '99 album Grammy to boot. She's been nominated for 14 Grammys to date and appeared on dozens of TV and movie soundtracks. Her most recent album, the sprawling double CD Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, owes its title to a Miller Williams poem and hit lucky 13 on U.S. charts. Now she's coming to Olympia's very own Capitol Theater.

We were scheduled for 15 minutes but ran 25. Ms. Williams is a storyteller. See if you can pinpoint the moment my fanboy brain exploded.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Tell me about the writers who hung around your dad's house when you were a kid.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS: He always said his greatest teacher was, and one of his mentors was, Flannery O'Connor. He went to visit her and took me along. I must've been about 4. Apparently I was chasing her peacocks while my dad was inside. (Dad) helped establish the University of Arkansas, so (writers) would come through and teach. James Dickey, the writer (of) Deliverance. John Clellon Holmes. ... Writers would come into town for a reading, and then there'd be a party, usually at my dad's house. That was always an amazing thing, to see these brilliant minds hanging out, drinking till the wee hours of the morning. They could drink; musicians think they're wild! These guys were drinking bourbon, hardcore liquor.

WV: What was your mom like?

LW: They divorced in the mid-'60s. We lived at my dad's after that, which was highly unusual for that time. My mother just wasn't monetarily or emotionally able to take care of three kids. One summer - I was in college at the time - I went to visit her in New Orleans, and that was where I got my first regular gigs in the French Quarter, at a bar called Andy's in the midst of all these tacky strip joints. It was this really cool singer-songwriter place (with) a stool and a couple mics set up. They let me audition and said, "Come in three nights a week and sing from eleven to two." They didn't even close till the sun came up. I was 21 and over the moon. You only got tips, but you could do pretty well because the tourists would come in. I got a little apartment with this girl; our total rent was $80 a month. I called my dad, because I was supposed to go back to school in the fall but wanted to stay. It was a pretty big turning point. I have pictures of me sitting on that stool, with a halter-top dress and long, straight hair.

WV: What was your last day job?

LW: I had a day job up until Rough Trade Records signed me and put me on the road in 1987. I worked at record stores in L.A., and house-cleaning services or filing in offices. ... A friend of mine's dad had a distribution company selling gourmet sausages. He'd hire his son's musician friends, who were always available for last-minute jobs, to sit in (grocery store) aisles and slice sausages and put 'em on toothpicks. I really didn't have that many skills. I couldn't type, so I'd have been in trouble if this music thing hadn't worked out.

WV: Your new album seems more political than your earlier stuff. Do you think of yourself as a political songwriter?

LW: It's something I always wanted to do more of and found it more challenging, as opposed to your basic unrequited love song. I was really influenced by the early political songs of Bob Dylan, then those topical songs Steve Earle is so good at writing. I wanted to be able to write a song like Dylan's "Masters of War," one of the greatest songs ever written. Those are hard to do! As I've gotten older, and I'm married now in a settled relationship, obviously I want to find other things to write about. It's forced me to branch out.

WV: A YouTube commenter said your song "Essence" is "the sexiest song I've ever heard." What's the sexiest song you've ever heard?

LW: That's a compliment! When I was in junior high school, the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" was pretty sexy. I loved their early stuff. There was something really cool about those first two albums, 'cause they were blues-based. There's that track ("Goin' Home") where Mick Jagger is like, "I'm goin' home. ... See my baby, see my baby." It chugs on and on, and then at one point he goes, "Aw, ssshhhhhucks!" The other band I got turned onto, in more ways than one, was the Doors. "This is the end, my only friend." It's that primal psychedelic thing. It pulled me in.

Yep, that was my fanboy moment: when Lucinda Williams growled Stones and Doors music into my ear. Point me home, Lucinda.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS, 8 p.m. Thursday, July 21, Capitol Theater, 206 5th Ave. SE, Olympia, $30-$35, 360.754.6670