Lucinda Williams - Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

It would appear that Lucinda Williams is being becoming more prolific as a writer as she ages. Hence at the age of 61 she has delivered for her 11th studio album, a double CD containing no fewer than 20 tracks. And most of them are self-composed.

Now I must confess that I generally have a bit of an issue with double albums and it is not a positive thing. Perhaps this should be a subject for a future post on this blog. 

Having got that out of the way, I feel that Ms Williams deserves a great deal of credit that  this album pretty much sustains my interest throughout. And that has to be down to the quality and variety of the songs as much as the performances. Besides the usual dosage of country rock, we also get plenty of blues and soul. The opening track 'Compassion' is a reworking of a poem written by her father Miller Williams. Featuring just Lucinda on acoustic guitar, it is very different musically to anything else on these two discs. Lyrically however it sets the tone for the rest of the album , which is I feel as lyrically strong (if not more so) than anything she has ever done. Take for example, 'Foolishness' in which she warns all who would seek to intrude into her private domain, "What I do in my own time is none of your business and all of mine". Knowing the heartbreak and stormy relationships she has had in the past, can she possibly have sung anything that has come more from the heart?

The album is stacked with great songs, though in a collection of 20, we are bound to come across some that do not quite hit the heights of others. For me, 'West Memphis' and 'Wrong Number' fall into that category but overall this is a hell of a good album and if her prolific songwriting continues, I am sure that we have more great albums to look forward to.