During the 2000s, Brad Paisley put out five or six albums that were just chock full of great, fun songs like today’s Random iTunes Selection.
‘Easy Money’ is catchy, funny and sly like so much of Paisley’s work. Songs like this feel like they were written and recorded in a day, and I mean that as a compliment.
Lucinda Williams follows up the rather sweet ‘Place in My Heart’ with ‘Death Came,’ a decidedly less optimistic tune. While the former song was about always being there for a loved one in need, this one is about dealing with a painful loss.
The music on this track is appropriately haunting. The first five tracks of The Ghosts of Highway 20 are all just beautiful musically. These aren’t the catchiest tunes Williams has ever written — she hasn’t been interested in penning the next ‘Passionate Kisses’ for awhile now — but they are among the prettiest.
Track four on Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 is more upbeat, lyrically, than the first three. I’ll find out soon whether the music follows suit.
This song was written for Williams’ brother, who has shown up in other songs of hers. He suffers from mental illness, as do Williams’ mother and sister. In a recent interview she describes herself as having survivors guilt for being the one unaffected sibling.
The third track on Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 is the first with lyrics penned by Williams herself. She follows Woody Guthrie’s tale of a prostitute with this plea from one victim of domestic abuse to another.
Highway 20 is a stretch of road that runs from South Carolina to Texas, through the deep south that Williams has written about for decades now. This album is a collection of songs about the lost and lonely souls who live along that stretch.
The second track on Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20, like the opener, features lyrics by somebody other than Williams.
In this case it’s Woody Guthrie supplying the words from beyond the grave. Williams met Guthrie’s daughter Nora at a German music festival and later received these lyrics from her with a note that read “I can’t think of anyone better to try and put music to these words – and no better person to sing them. But I understand if it’s too dark”.
Meet Me In Montauk 