Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

Love the lyrics, love the feel of being down south. The music has a little bit of swamp to it. This is so close to a five star album! Goes on for a little bit too long, the last few songs don’t quite hold up to the first 2/3, and the vocals become a bit repetitive/droning.
But I could listen to the first half of this album over and over again-and probably will!

Pretty nice country music.

Aika hyvä kantripoppislevy. 3.5/5, mut ei ehkä ihan nelonen.

The first big concert I went to was Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. I’d asked for tickets for my birthday, and my parents got us floor seats, something like row 6 or 8, center stage. Tom was fantastic, obviously. The opener was Lucinda Williams, touring Car Wheels. I was passingly familiar because my dad sometimes played the album in the car. I sadly don’t remember a lot about her set, because I was more anxiously awaiting Tom Petty; I do remember that Mike Campbell came out and played a song or 2 with her. Years later, as an adult, I rediscovered this album and began to fully appreciate & understand it. Growing up in Mississippi, I can appreciate a lot of aspects of this album; I often tell people that the title track sounds like my childhood (I literally lived on a gravel road). Suffice it to say, this album is a masterpiece & will always be near & dear to my heart. If you’ll excuse me now, I’m gonna go to West Memphis & look for my joy.

I found this to be perfectly forgettable background music. I thought I was listening to Sheryl Crow at one point, until. And then when this album was over, Sheryl Crow was the first artist that came on afterwards based on sonic sounds.

There's nothing wrong here, her voice is pleasant enough, the music is fine. But nothing is compelling me to run back and listen again, either.

Sounds like a lot of late 90s alt radio female singers. Not sure why this one was special enough to land on this list. Reminds me I think of Sheryl Crowe. Pretty mid, then it got more country and more on my shit list. 1*

The song title "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" reminds me of the Weird Al line from Word Crimes: "You should never write words using numbers, unless you're seven, or your name is Prince." I'd describe the overall album as slacker country/blues. Not bad, but nothing I'd seek out again. Favorite tracks: Drunken Angel (reminds me of Tom Petty), Can't Let Go (fun track).

Not my jam.

very bland and generic, i also didnt like her voice sorry.. barely a 2

Lucinda Williams was one of those artists I had never heard of until I moved from the UK to the US, being introduced to this was a revelation. To me Country music was either old people from the 70s or earlier like Johnny Cash or Kris Kristofferson and Tammy Wynette or Loretta Lynn, or mediocre 90s pop crossovers like Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes, so to encounter the in-between space that Americana genre existed in with artists like Lucinda and Emmylou Harris was an eye opening experience. This album moved me, it's downright filthy in so many ways with songs like "Right In Time" and "I Still Long For Your Kiss" but it's the consecutive punches of "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten", "Drunken Angel", "Concrete And Barbed Wire" and "Lake Charles" that keep me coming back.

You should also listen to her 2005 Live @ the Fillmore album

Om de term maar even te lenen. We komen nog wel eens een 'vergeetbare 3' tegen in deze lijst. Niet slecht, maar niet echt interessant. Je zou het bijna vergeten, maar in de jaren 90 viel er een compleet genre onder de noemer 'vergeetbare 3'. Amerikaanse rustige singer-song-writer dames. Net geen country, net geen rock. Net niets. Er zijn tientallen bekende voorbeelden van, maar die ben ik natuurlijk allemaal vergeten.

In 1998 was dit genre gelukkig redelijk aan het uitsterven. Blijkbaar heeft ene Lucinda toen toch nog eens zo'n plaatje opgenomen. Helemaal niet slecht hoor. Ook helemaal niet vernieuwend en zeker niet bijzonder. Een middenmotor binnen dit genre van de vergeetbare 3.

Hahaha Lucinda Williams after that stupid The Thrills album!! Oh the ironing is delicious 🤤. Still angry about Irish guys using a fgake southern drawl.

Great songwriting delivered with authenticity. The album has a lot of variety, a range of emotion, interesting and fresh subject matter. Really liked these little glimpses of people's lives, Lake Charles was a memorable example. I've never listened to Lucinda WIlliams before because I kind of afraid of country music, but this was great. Haters gonna hate, as they say. I typically oppose the Critically Acclaimed™ stuff, but this deserves the awards.

my kind of country. solid album end to end. 3.5/5

Kind of a cool roots folk country style. I mean she can sing thats for sure. I don't know that I get a lot from it though. Its a nice antidote to stadium country. Greenville is a good song. Joy is a another good song, but I feel like I have heard it before?

2.3 per track. Was excited to see some country on here but meh.

Try hard Americana country

Funny to have another country album right in a row, but with such a stark difference in quality. THIS is the country I can fw. Her voice is fantastic and the lyrics touch on some familiar country cliches, but in a way that isn't cheesy and grating.

When they came out the country loving people in my surroundings said this was the bees knees and still call it the best alt-country album of the last 2 decades. It must've delivered something in that time that was realy needed.

Because when listening to it now, I still don't see the appeal as to why this is such a standout album. Some songs remind me indeed a bit of the alternative 90's scene, others really go back into country territory; and you know when that happens, it's when her accent gets dialed up to 10 southern, where that seems to be lacking on some other songs.

It's not a bad album, but I really seem to be missing the greatness of it all. It's distinctly flat, in songwriting and production.

HL: title track, "Jackson", "Drunken Angel", "Can't Let Go"

3.5

Album cover is a liminal space if I've ever seen one

It's all decently enjoyable to me, but I might have to come back to it another time after reading about Williams' acclaim as a lyricist. I was more focused on her timbre and phrasing (e.g. "Car wheELS on a gravel ROAD") and less on the words, which seems to happen when presented with a unique singer that I'm relatively new to (James Bradfield, Stephen Merritt)

Can see why this is on the list, but too country for my tastes.