The final track of Disc One of Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 is, lyrically, the most impressive so far. Also the most gut-wrenching.
Williams recalls her own childhood in Louisiana with sweet nostalgia. She paints a picture of carefree days spent mostly outside, and loving parents who got angry only over little things like spilled milk or a slamming screen door.
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.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 