Lucinda Williams' love affair with Cincinnati continued Tuesday, as the alt-country singer/songwriter played Bogart's to an adoring crowd of about 1,000.

        She looked like a biker babe in black tank top, leather pants, cowboy hat and rhinestone choker. A biker babe with a degree in literature, that is. For two hours, she led her four-man band through the masterfully crafted songs on her new CD, Essence, as well as her 1998 breakthrough disc Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

        It was the last show on this tour leg, and her voice showed road wear. She's always had a reckless sense of pitch, as if too much attention to staying on key got in the way of emotion. But Tuesday she often sounded worn out, even on the gospel jumper, “Get Right With God.”

        A Southern songwriter with a deep sense of place, even when her voice was lackluster, her material shone.

        Newer songs like the heartbreaking “I Envy the Wind” or “Out of Touch” were brilliantly focused portraits of relationships.

        She avoided her more commercial pieces, such as “Passionate Kisses,” but she and her band rocked “Changed the Locks,” covered by Tom Petty.

        Sharing the self-destructive edge common to Southern writers and rockers, she dedicated songs to dead musicians — “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten” for Joey Ramone, “Drunken Angel” to its inspiration, Texas singer/songwriter Blaze Foley (and Townes Van Zandt).

        Her first encore was a duet with guitarist Bo Ramsey on Tommy Johnson's “Big Road Blues,” done for John Lee Hooker.

        So began 45 minutes of encores. The crowd wouldn't let her leave and she happily stayed, despite her fraying voice.

        For her second encore, she brought back Kasey Chambers for “Bus to Baton Rouge.”

        While she lacked Ms. Williams' emotional heft, the Australian newcomer was a stellar opener.

        With her high, twangy voice, she was more country than Ms. Williams. But when she spoke, it was in a thick accent, a bit like seeing George Jones morph into Crocodile Dundee.

        She's no novelty. She showed herself an excellent writer in the powerful title song to her debut CD, The Captain, as well as material from her upcoming Barricades and Brickwalls.

        She was also hilariously vulgar. One line printable here came from what she called her “mainstream” country song, “Don't Look Up My Dress Unless You Mean It.”

        Her 50-minute set was literally a family show, however, as her band featured her dad, Bill Chambers, on guitar. Her mom also was there, selling CDs and T-shirts.

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