Lucinda Williams: Good Souls Better Angels
Word of the new Lucinda Williams record started spreading quickly in early 2020 after the big music festivals in Key West and Colorado. She played the Outlaw Country Cruise at the end of January and slipped a few of the new songs into her sets. People who had heard the tracks were talking about a gritty, ballsy, rockin’ collection that was some of the best work Lu has given us in years. Good Souls Better Angels (Highway 20/Thirty Tigers) more than delivers on those promises.
14 albums into her career, the now 67-year old has released the rock record she says she always wanted to make. Backed by her long-time band Buick 6 – Stuart Mathis (guitars), David Sutton (bass), and Butch Norton (drums), the 12 tracks bristle with energy and most tracks were done in just two or three takes. The album was recorded over 15 days in September and November 2019 at Ray Kennedy’s Room and Board studio in Nashville. It’s the place where Lu recorded her 1998 classic Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, also with Kennedy at the controls. On Good Souls Better Angels she also shares producing and some writing credits with her manager/husband, Tom Overby.
Moving away from her usual topics of story songs about her childhood, Lucinda tackles the big topics of domestic abuse, social media persecution, demagogue politicians, and the 24-hour news cycle. And the Devil.
It all starts with a declaration of independence in the rockin’ blues of “You Can’t Rule Me,” an adaptation of a Memphis Minnie song.
“Bad News Blues” laments the inescapable barrage of info, "No Matter Where I Go/ I Can’t Get Away From It/ Don’t You Know/ I’m Knee Deep In It,” and calls out the “Liars and Lunatics/ Fools and Thieves/ and Clowns and Hypocrites.”
Without actually naming names, “Man Without a Soul” makes clear her intended target: “All the Money in the World/ Will Never Fill That Hole/ You’re a Man Bought and Sold/ You’re a Man Without a Soul.”
“Big Black Train” slows the tempo down and gives everyone a chance to catch their breath but still deals with “that big black cloud of Depression. When I listen to that track, it makes me cry,” says Lucinda in a release for the record.
The steady bass line of “Wakin’ Up” gets the album back to the grit and the stark reality of an abusive situation: “He Threw a Punch/ Somehow I Missed It/ I Should’ve Split/ Thought I Could Fix It.” It may be the most powerful track on a very powerful record.
While evil may be lurking in the background of many songs on this record, Lucinda calls him out in “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.” She sings, “At the End of the Day/ There’s Nobody Else/Nobody Can Save You/From Yourself.”
All Photos By Danny Clinch
“Shadows & Doubts” slows down to consider the results of so many anonymous and unfounded accusations: “These Are the Dark New Days/ That Much is True/ There’s So Many Ways/ To Crush You.” That track is followed by the quiet optimism of “When the Way Gets Dark,” and the first hint that all may not be lost even in these troubled days.
Just when you might be feeling better, “Bone of Contention” kicks in to make you question everything you thought was good: “Filthy Sin is in Your Blood/ Abomination of All That’s Good/ I Saw You Walking your Two-Headed Dog/ And You Pretend to Worship God/ Mathematics and Politics/ Three Sixes and Dirty Tricks” with an all-out rock attack from the band. Lucinda refuses to let up with the next track, “Down Past the Bottom,” which delivers even more hard rock from the band and lyrics like “Falling Harder Than a Stone/ I Can’t Remember Any Good Times/ That I’ve Known/ I’m Sinking Lower and Lower/ Down Past the Bottom/ Where the Devil Won’t Go.” (There’s the Devil, again). And “Big Rotator” doesn’t offer much hope, either: “Justice is the Motivator/ Bringing the World to a Stop/ Evil is the Instigator/ Bleeding the World Drop by Drop.”
After all that, Lucinda wraps up the album with “Good Souls,” which is as much a prayer as anything: “Keep Me With All of Those/ Who Help Me Find Strength/ When I’m Feeling Hopeless/ Who Guide Me Along/ And Help Me Stay Strong.”
In a career filled with classic records, Lucinda Williams has delivered her best yet. The lyrics are easily her most passionate ever and the band is rocking like never before. Expect Good Souls Better Angels to be on many lists tallying the best of 2020.
