Tag Archives: Lucinda Williams

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Song of the Day #177: ‘If Wishes Were Horses’ – Lucinda Williams

lucinda2Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #5

Any new Lucinda Williams album is a special treat, and 2008’s Little Honey proved to be her strongest collection since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Much was made of the “happy” Lucinda that showed up on this album, as love songs filled the grooves usually occupied by hard luck tales. And to be sure, the album does contain some of her most lyrically upbeat material.

But the song that hit me the hardest on this album isn’t a love song or a happy song, and it’s not even a new song. It’s a somber ballad of regret written way back in 1985 but reaching the light of day for the first time last year.

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Lucinda Williams – Little Honey

littlehoneyLucinda Williams has been on a tear in recent years. After releasing a total of four albums during the first 18 years of her career, she has released another four in the past seven. Her latest, Little Honey, follows right on the heels of 2007’s West.

Her most notorious dry spell was the six years between Sweet Old World and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, when her perfectionism got the better of her and she refused to release Car Wheels until it was just right. And I can’t argue with that, because it is a perfect album… one of the few in my collection about which I’ll say that without reservation. But still, six years is a long time.

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Song of the Day #82: ‘Side of the Road’ – Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams has a new album in stores today (Little Honey), so I’m celebrating the occasion by highlighting one of my all-time favorite songs — ‘Side of the Road’ from Williams’ classic self-titled album.

I discovered Williams 10 years ago, when Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was released to unanimous critical acclaim. I saw that album on every single year-end top ten list along with the tale of how it had taken her six years to record and release it because she was never quite happy enough to let it go.

I enjoyed it well enough after my first listen but something else must have come up because I set it aside and didn’t really think about it again for more than a year.

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Song of the Day #48: ‘There’s a Story in Your Voice’ – Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams

Elvis Costello has done a lot of duets in his time. He’s been around so long now, and worked in so many different genres, that there’s really not a thing he hasn’t done in the music business.

His stellar album The Delivery Man, a concept album about a love triangle in the deep south, contains three duets: two with Emmylou Harris (who must appear as a backup/second singer on far more songs than she sings on her own) and this one with Lucinda Williams.

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