Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels
Format: CD – LP
Label: Highway 20 Records
Releasedatum: 24 april 2020
“It’s all come full circle,” says Lucinda Williams about her powerful new album, ‘Good Souls Better Angels’. After more than forty years of music making, the pioneering, Louisiana-born artist has returned to the gritty blues foundation that first inspired her as a young singer-songwriter in the late 1970s.
And after spending the last year on her sold-out ‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’ 20th Anniversary tour, Williams has reunited with that game-changing 1998 album’s co-producer and engineer Ray Kennedy, recording ‘Good Souls, Better Angels’ with her ace touring band at his Nashville studio.
Joining them as co-producer is Williams’ manager Tom Overby, to whom she’s been married for a decade and who contributed lyrics to her masterful songcraft. “That’s what I always dreamed of – a relationship with someone I could create with,” Williams enthuses.
The result – ‘Good Souls Better Angels’ – is the most topical album of Williams’ career. The dangerous world we live in, the constant barrage of a frightening news cycle, depression, domestic abuse, a man without a soul – and, yeah, the devil – figure prominently among its twelve tracks.
“The devil comes into play quite a bit on this album,” Williams says. “I’ve always loved the imagery in Robert Johnson songs and those really dark Delta blues that are sort of biblical. I was inspired by Leonard Cohen – he dealt with that in his songs – and Bob Dylan and Nick Cave.”
While, ‘Good Souls Better Angels’ reflects many dark realities that surround us, the album is tied together with themes of perseverance, resilience and ultimately, hope.
Tracklist:
01. You Can’t Rule Me
02. Bad News Blues
03. Man Without A Soul
04. Big Black Train
05. Wakin’ Up
06. Pray The Devil Back To Hell
07. Shadows & Doubts
08. When The Way Gets Dark
09. Bone Of Contention
10. Down Past The Bottom
11. Big Rotator
12. Good Souls
Website: Lucinda Williams