Track six on Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 is another lyrical downer. But according to Tom Overby, Williams’ husband and manager, it’s a “groovy little blues jam.”
Overby has posted lengthy write-ups of every song on the album to Williams’ Facebook page over the past few weeks, offering insight into the recording process and origin of each. I wish every artist would do that.
I’m surprised that this is the first track from Kate Bush’s 1985 album Hounds of Love I’ve featured on the blog. Through nearly 3,000 songs, I would have expected at least the great ‘Running Up That Hill’ to have its moment in the spotlight.
The truth is, I’ve only really gotten into the first handful of songs on the record, but they’re all great. Perhaps my favorite of all of them is today’s random selection, ‘Mother Stands For Comfort.’
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 