That World’s Gone Wrong is Lucinda Williams’ 16th studio album is a striking fact to consider. This new record, an unapologetically topical undertaking, benefits from the enduring creative clarity of Williams and the potent energies of the band she’s assembled. It’s out January 23 through Highway 20 Records and Thirty Tigers.
Lucinda Williams hit the scene modestly but solidly with a pair of LPs for Folkways: Ramblin’ on My Mind, released in 1979, and Happy Woman Blues from the following year. The contents established her as one of the earliest examples of Americana, a sound (indeed a genre) she would continue to refine and help to define.
A self-titled third LP, issued in 1988 by Rough Trade, raised her profile a bit and included “Passionate Kisses,” which won Williams her first Grammy award through its cover by Mary Chapin Carpenter, a sizable hit in 1992. However, Williams remained somewhat underappreciated as a performer, at least until her two ensuing albums, Sweet Old World from 1992 and especially Car Wheels on a Gravel Road from 1988, brought record sales and tours to match the critical acclaim.
Williams has been building on that momentum ever since, but primarily through album sales, as her work maintains an edge that’s kept her from making too big a splash on the singles charts. This is notable when considering her ability as a songwriter and her continued vitality as a singer, even as her voice has matured. Disinterested in the safety of pigeonholing, Williams has collaborated with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and UK punk survivors The Mekons.
Conceived as a musical response to current events, World’s Gone Wrong overtook another album that Williams had in the works. What could have suffered due to haste registers instead as focused and urgent. Through the guitar playing, that aforementioned edge is front and center in the roots-rich opening title track and in the next cut, “Something’s Got to Give” (both feature guest vocals by Brittney Spencer).
Along with the strength of the singing and the pointed lyrics, the sturdiness of the instrumentation establishes the album’s core consistency. “Low Life” adds harmonica, scales back the guitars a little bit, broadens a tough rhythm with infusions of organ, and namechecks Slim Harpo and Dr. John. And then comes “How Much Did You Get for Your Soul,” a crunchy mid-tempo rocker with biting lyrics to match.
One of the album’s highlights is a version of “So Much Trouble in the World,” originally by Bob Marley and the Wailers, with guest vocals from Mavis Staples. Instead of choosing to navigate a straightforward reggae structure, Williams and crew maintain a loose but respectful stylistic handle on the tune that holds up to repeated listens.
With “Sing Unburied Sing,” World’s Gone Wrong gets raucous again. Next is “Black Tears,” which builds up a fairly standard-issue blues-rock pulse into a likeable if still minor affair. It’s followed by “Punchline,” one of the record’s best tracks, its sharpest aspect, Williams’ bluesy vocal lament. “Freedom Speaks” has an appealing bluesy-funky groove and some of the record’s boldest words setting up the warm and gospel-country inflected closer, “We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around,” with guest piano from Norah Jones.
The state of the world is bleak enough to sink an observer into despair on a daily basis. With World’s Gone Wrong, Lucinda Williams has railed against this situation and created a balm for the despondent.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
