RECORD REVIEWS

There are times when songwriters, particularly those who have been at it for a while, need a jolt, a shock to the system that gets their creative juices flowing again.

- By Robert Baird

An obvious example is Bruce Springsteen, who was inspired by 9/11 to write his last best group of songs, which became The Rising. Such troubled times call for protest, but writing songs that carry a message and don't sound preachy—and that don't ignore the need for melody—is exceptionally difficult. Lucinda Williams has pulled it off. Having wrongs to protest has sent Williams back to her roots and helped her rediscover her mojo, post-stroke. “It made me think about back in the '60s when I was a teenager. I used to get involved and go to the marches and demonstrations and sing these songs that were so great. Everybody knew 'We Shall Overcome,' and I missed that,” she told me in a phone call just before embarking on a European tour. “That's kind of what I was going for when I was writing these songs. I wanted to feel like that again, because that was a very powerful and empowering feeling, standing with a group of like-minded people, singing. You felt like you weren't alone.”

Williams has now climbed all the way back from the 2020 stroke that left her unable to play guitar or walk without assistance. Here, she and her band are locked in to a like-minded musical groove. Her voice, always an acquired taste, has rarely been better.