Blessed

If you don’t already love Lucinda Williams or aren’t necessarily into country music, don’t be scared off by people who simplify her as a mere country singer. She is so much more—more alt-country than straight country, but with elements of southern rock mixed in as well. Her vocals range from drawling to raspy to sweet and vulnerable. She is a goddess of both ballads and embittered songs about failed love. Woman’s got a lot of anger, but a lot of romance to her as well. For those who already know/love her, this is another album in the vein of West, but with more ballads/sadness. For fans of: Drive-By Truckers, Dawes, Townes Van Zandt, Emmylou Harris, etc. No FCCs. Recommended tracks: 1, 4, 7, 9 Reviewed by Klayr.

1. Raunchy, embittered, slightly vengeful, with dirty guitar licks… Lucinda doing some of what she does best. [3:51]
2. Wistful, slightly dejected ballad with lots of nice pedal steel. [5:00]
3. More upbeat song—still about spurned love, but with lovely harmonies. Nice straightforward alt-country. [4:31]
4. That gorgeous ballad that every LW album has. Her voice sounds alternatingly twangy (her M.O.) and soulful. Pretty, bluesy guitar solo midway. Yum. [4:38]
5. Rollicking, slightly spiteful song. More of a country rock track, with lots of drums, electric guitar, etc. Lucinda’s voice has that edge it gets when she’s angry (see “Come On” from West for a fantastic example of this), but there are also some nice harmonies in there. [5:14]
6. Slow, slow track with stripped down acoustic guitar, pedal steel, desolate lyrics. Story about war, soldiers, death… yeah. Nice lil electric solo at the end. [6:09]
7. Title track—a meditation on being blessed in ways both expected and unexpected. A really pretty, stripped down song. Low-key instrumentation, which picks up near the end. Piano, something synthy, some electric guitar, but mostly focused on the list-like lyrics, which are really quite poetic (if a little sentimental at times). [5:49]
8. Love letter song… a bit too melancholy for my taste but if you’re into slow, swaying ballads, this is for you. Also there just might be some accordion in there (!). [3:33]
9. Vocals oh so drunken/raspy in this dark song. That country feel (just a touch twangy, with both acoustic and electric guitar), nice male/female harmonies, stormy lyrics—so many of Lucinda’s specialties in one track. [4:22]
10. Upbeat, country-rock song with grungy electric guitar, and some psychedelic synth action. [5:46]
11. Song about “the awakening”… starts slow and foreboding, with simple guitar melody + vox, then bursts into distorted, epic, echo-y solo in the middle. Returns to same aesthetic as beginning afterward, then another awesome explosion with freaking wild electric organ. This song is an awakening. [6:25]
12. Wistful love song. Just plain gorgeous, if rather sad. [3:51]