Lucinda Williams preps for Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach

It's safe to say Lucinda Williams has gone through more than a few pens over the past couple of years.

Since June 2014, the last time the singer/songwriter performed in Delaware, Williams has released a pair of double albums: 2014's "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" and "The Ghosts of Highway 20," released in February.

That's 34 songs – three hours and eight minutes worth of new tales about depression, compassion and betrayal with more than a few emotional gut-punches delivered by her richly ragged voice. As an added bonus, they have earned her the best reviews in more than a decade.

Needless to say, when the three-time Grammy-winner makes her Dewey Beach debut Wednesday at the Bottle & Cork (1807 Del. 1), she'll be armed with more than just the hits that fans have devoured during her 40-year career. She will have plenty of new tricks in that songbook of hers.

It's an especially creative period for the standout Americana act, whose career and respect in the business has only grown over her four decades of playing professionally.

"I have even more songs in the can that I've been trying to get finished," says Williams, 63, as she was driving around Colorado last week, headed to the 26th annual Rocky Mountain Folks Festival where she performed alongside the Decemberists, Conor Oberst and Andrew Bird.

She says she's been recording a lot in recent years because of a comfortable setup at Dave's Room in North Hollywood, a "homey, independent studio" where she doesn't have to rush. And now with a music label of her own, Highway 20 Records, the pressure is really off.

"We don't have major label restrictions like budget and time constraints as much, so we have the freedom to work for a few weeks, cut a bunch of stuff and then take a break," Williams adds. "And while we're in there, we're able to be just spontaneous."

Williams and her band channeled that spontaneity when they found themselves in the studio when Lou Reed died in October 2013. She mentioned she always loved Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes," and that's when her husband and co-producer Tom Overby said, "Let's do it."

While the track did not make the cut for either of her recent double albums, it has been performed live at her shows. And it especially came in handy when she played it at a 2014 South By Southwest tribute to Reed, as well as at this summer's Out of Doors concert series at New York's Lincoln Center.

Also last month, she joined Dr. John, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and more for an Out of Doors' 40th-anniversary tribute to the Band's "Last Waltz" concert film.

She can relate to the 40-year milestone – although she says it doesn't feel it.

"You look back and go, 'Really? I was there that long?' It just doesn't seem like it's been that long," Williams says. Or as she put it to Rolling Stone magazine: "The older I get, the more I thrive."

Williams' rare beach show comes after performances at the Grand in Wilmington in both 2014 and 2009. This time, she's on an eight-show East Coast trek, making stops in towns like Baltimore and Ocean City, New Jersey (tickets $35).

Williams' recent concerts have been fan-pleasers, packed with career highlights like "Drunken Angel," "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings," "Changed the Locks," "Essence," "Joy," "Righteously" and "Get Right With God."

After performing tributes to Lou Reed and the Band recently, Williams looks around to find many of her musical heroes are getting up in age. Is there an influential performer whose death would shake her core?

There is. It's Bob Dylan.

"I can't even stand to think about it. From the age of 12 when I first heard 'Highway 61 Revisited' – I didn't understand everything he was saying, but I understood it nevertheless," says Williams, who began learning guitar at the time. "I knew that was what I wanted to do. Something in the back of my little 12-year-old brain was saying, 'I want to learn how to do this. I want to write songs that are this good.'

"That was a tipping point for me."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Lucinda Williams show

WHEN: Wednesday, 9 p.m.

WHERE: Bottle & Cork, 1807 Del. 1, Dewey Beach 

COST: $35

INFORMATION: deweybeachlife.com