Lucinda Williams release, "Car Wheels..." is the record that inspired me to begin to consider the sub-genre of Americana music. It led me to listen to the Jayhawks, Emmylou Harris and Tift Merritt to name but a few of the artists and bands that Williams' music opened up to me. And in the years since, her music continues to delight me. What makes "Car Wheels..." so profoundly unique is in the degree of musical sophistication present in the playing, song writing and tenacity ... read more
20 years later, and Lucinda Williams’ best-known masterpiece still sounds just as essential as it did the day it came out. If there had been any doubt that Lucinda Williams was among the best songwriters of her generation, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” erased it. It’s a masterclass in songwriting — strikingly honest, poetic but plainspoken, personal yet universal. At the same time, I’d imagined Williams’ work was unapproachable, and that couldn’t ... read more
Over the past few years, I've been growing a real appreciation for country music and the emotions/images it can conjure. Car Wheels... is one of the rightful, definitive classics in the genre. It's intimate and homely yet full of unsated desire and longing. Every emotion is felt and every note and melody just hits home and transports me right onto the porch of that small, rural house. As someone who lives in a country town and has some of those same dreams, this connects all too perfectly.
With not a component out of place, CWOAGR unveiled the Southern world in which its singer loved and lived. The record was not made through the seamless beauty with which it arrived: it was hard-fought, re-thought, and endured. With a spiky purr, Lucinda spoke of life plainly and perfectly, while the colourful imagery she planted next to a direct realism manages to feel precisely as intimate. Only a spontaneous, zealous person could write like this; the poignance of her non-sequiturs is in their ... read more
A stunning masterpiece. Lucinda's 1990s three-album run is unrivalled. As far as I'm concerned, Lucinda should be seen as being on the level of Bob Dylan, Joni and Springsteen in terms of sheer song-writing talent.
Over the past few years, I've been growing a real appreciation for country music and the emotions/images it can conjure. Car Wheels... is one of the rightful, definitive classics in the genre. It's intimate and homely yet full of unsated desire and longing. Every emotion is felt and every note and melody just hits home and transports me right onto the porch of that small, rural house. As someone who lives in a country town and has some of those same dreams, this connects all too perfectly.