Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
Lucinda Williams (Highway 20 Records)
Gutsy goddess is one of a kind If by some chance you’ve never heard the always-
excellent Lucinda, her first album in nearly four years is a great place to start. From here you’ll likely explore her back catalogue
post-haste. Everything she has done over the years is consistently good. She is one-of-a-kind, an Americana goddess, a gutsy, soulful, emotive country/roots/blues singer with unparalleled song writing skills and a raspy, toughly unpretty voice that is gritty, real and dynamic. Always genuine and frequently heart wrenching, her
songs reflect the dues she’s paid over four decades. She first hit the spotlight late around age 45 with the critically lauded Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Most thought it was a debut album; that was hardly the case. She had already released four (the first two barely noticed) albums of her personal, finely crafted songs of the south – her nomadic childhood, relationships, loss, journeys. At 62, she has reached a comfort level of sorts with
this stunning double effort, her first on her own record label.
Never prolific – six years
between Sweet Old World and the aforementioned Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, almost four years since Blessed – and, always exacting in what makes it onto an album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone seems to have come rather easily. Apparently, she and the numerous ace musicians who appear here (members of the Wallflowers, some of Elvis Costello’s band, Ian McLagan from the Faces, her touring rhythm section, Tony Joe White, and others) put together 35 songs during the sessions in Los Angeles. This comparatively relative
ease shouldn’t be misinterpreted as releasing an album of mediocre work. Far from it. The 20 songs here showcase Williams at her best: mature, confident and ably delivering what she calls “countrified soul”. Her sound is unique, her song writing exemplary as always. The album is chalk full of great
songs. As always, Lucinda belts out roadhouse rockers (Protection, Foolishness, Everything but the Truth
www.bounder.ca BOUNDER MAGAZINE 13
MUSIC REVIEW
are standouts) as easily as she laments, deep-felt sorrow obvious in the ache of her voice. She can be biting, reflective, perceptive and poignant, sometimes all in one song. For the first time in her storied
career she takes one of her father’s poems (Miller Williams is a former literature professor and acclaimed poet; he recited at President
BILL MACPHERSON
Clinton’s inauguration) and makes it a song. Compassion is an apt title and subject – her Dad is 86 now and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She salutes him in Temporary Nature (Of Any Precious Thing) – a moving, elegiac hymn to his influence and importance in her life. Equally moving is the poignancy of Wrong Number.
In a handful of words she captures alienation, heartache, the fluidity of modern society, poverty, escape, lament and the need to know with heartfelt vocals and beautifully understated instrumentation. Little flairs of guitar and piano over a steady backbeat make it an amazing song.
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