Lucinda Williams’ sprawling double album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, is a lot to wrap my brain around.
It certainly contains some throwaway tracks — I can easily imagine this release pared down to a stellar single disc — but in its ambitious, oversized form it feels at times like a summation of her impressive career.
Lucinda Williams released two albums over the past five years that received consideration for my decade-s-far list.
One was this year’s Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, a double album that I am still getting to know after a few weeks. If I’d lived with it for a bit longer before compiling the list, it might have had a chance. It’s a grower, like most good albums.
It took 20 years for Lucinda Williams to release her first four albums. Her most recent four have come at a much faster clip, averaging one every other year.
And while there is no contest in terms of quality — the first batch takes it by a mile — I’m glad to hear new material by one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters with some frequency.
Immediately after posting ten of my favorite songs, I started regretting the omissions. Given another chance I could post ten completely different tracks and feel just as good about the list.
But the omission that hit me the hardest — the one that would have been in the top five if I hadn’t completely blanked on it — is Lucinda Williams’ ‘Side of the Road.’
‘Sweet Side,’ from Lucinda Williams’ raw and sadly beautiful World Without Tears album, certainly means well.
If you just read the lyrics, it’s a poignant (though overly rhyme-y) letter to a damaged person who’s been turned cruel by decades of abuse. It ends on a hopeful note, as Williams looks past the rough exterior to the wounded innocent inside.
Meet Me In Montauk 