Happy birthday Lucinda Williams!
Lucinda Williams talks about being influenced by Bob Dylan and his album “Highway 61” on the debut episode of “The Buddy and Jim Show” with Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale on SiriusXM Outlaw Country:
Category Archives: Lucinda Williams
September 26: Emmylou Harris released Wrecking Ball in 1995
“Wrecking Ball is a leftfield masterpiece, the most wide-ranging, innovative, and daring record in a career built on such notions. Rich in atmosphere and haunting in its dark complexity…The fixed point remains Harris’ voice, which leaps into each and every one of these diverse compositions — culled from the pens of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Earle, and others — with utter fearlessness, as if this were the album she’d been waiting her entire life to make. Maybe it is.”
– Jason Ankeny (Allmusic)
Wrecking Ball is the eighteenth studio album by Emmylou Harris, released on September 26, 1995 throughElektra Records. Moving away from the traditional acoustic sound for which she had become known, Harris collaborated with rock producer Daniel Lanois and engineer Mark Howard. The album has been noted for atmospheric feel, and featured guest performances by Steve Earle, Larry Mullen, Jr., Lucinda Williams and Neil Young, who wrote the title song.
I saw Emmylou Harris live for the first time this summer, it made me go back and listen to all her albums again, with added interest and new-found love of her music. Not that I had ever lost it, but it felt fresh and deeper after the show in Oslo.
Wrecking Ball is my favourite Harris album, and I rank it among the 30 best albums ever made.
Emmylou Harris talks about Sweet Old World and sings the song with Neil Young:
Continue reading September 26: Emmylou Harris released Wrecking Ball in 1995
August 25: Lucinda Williams released Sweet Old World in 1992
August 25: Lucinda Williams released Sweet Old World in 1992
See what you lost when you left this world, this sweet old world The breath from your own lips, the touch of fingertips A sweet and tender kiss The sound of a midnight train, wearing someone’s ring Someone calling your name Somebody so warm cradled in your arms Didn’t you think you were worth anything See what you lost when you left this world, this sweet old world
Sweet Old World is Lucinda Williams’ fourth album, it was released 25 August in 1992. It is a fantastic album. It is a record that I bought after buying Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and her eponymous 1988 album, I love them all (and all she has given us since then). She really took her time between the albums, and the wait for new music from Lucinda Williams has often put my patience to a test. She never delivers bad stuff, most often she gives us fantastic songs. Sweet Old World is even better than its predesessor and almost as good as Car Wheels… and that is a masterpiece! Here’s a great performance of the title track, Sweet old World (live at Austin City Limits): Continue reading August 25: Lucinda Williams released Sweet Old World in 1992
June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998
June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the fifth studio album by Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. It was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, California. The album features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris.
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
“Intentionally or not, the album’s common thread seems to be its strongly grounded sense of place — specifically, the Deep South, conveyed through images and numerous references to specific towns. Many songs are set, in some way, in the middle or aftermath of not-quite-resolved love affairs, as Williams meditates on the complexities of human passion. Even her simplest songs have more going on under the surface than their poetic structures might indicate. In the end, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is Williams’ third straight winner; although she might not be the most prolific songwriter of the ’90s, she’s certainly one of the most brilliant.”
– Steve Huey (Allmusic)
The Title track, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Live 2009):
Continue reading June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998
June 5: Lucinda Williams released Essence in 2001
I envy the wind
That whispers in your ear
That howls through the winter
That freezes your fingers
That moves through your hair
And cracks your lips
And chills you to the bone
I envy the wind
June 5: Lucinda Williams released Essence in 2001
Essence is Lucinda Williams’ sixth album. It was released in 2001. It is a wonderful album, one of the best albums that year, hell, one of the best albums that decade!
Essence was highly anticipated coming after a three-year gap from her lauded Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and the critical reviews reflect that. Although positive, none rate the album as highly as her breakthrough. Robert Christgau, who raved about Car Wheels, called the album “imperfect” but still praised her artistry saying “[she] is too damn good to deny.” Reviewers noted the difference in tone between the two albums with Rolling Stone citing the “willful intimacy” of the music while Spin contrasted its “halting, spare” presentation with Car Wheels “giddy, verbose” one. In a review posted by Salon the album was called “an emotional mess of a masterpiece”.
Q listed Essence as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.
Personnel on the album include Tony Garnier and Charlie Sexton, best known as part of Bob Dylan’s live backing band then and now. The album also features session drummer Jim Keltner, another Dylan collaborator.
Fantastic album!
Lucinda Williams – Essence (Live):
Continue reading June 5: Lucinda Williams released Essence in 2001