Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
(Mercury)

Every positive review you’ve read is true, only more so. It’s almost redundant to add to the existing hyperbole, but this publication must note for the record that Car Wheels On A Gravel Road is a major work by a major American songwriter.

The pulse of three generations of American folk, country, and swamp rock echoes throughout these 13 songs; the feel of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" noticeably informs the album-closing "Jackson." Lyrical references, meanwhile, run from Hank Williams to ZZ Top to about a zillion cities and towns south of the Mason-Dixon line. These are not easy songs to swallow—desperation and longing dominate them. Most of the songs offer some promise of redemption, but somehow it’s always a few hours’ drive away. Good thing Lucinda’s car always seems to have a full tank of gas.

YEAH YEAH YEAH, 1998