3.5 stars (out of 4)
Lucinda Williams’ great challenge on her 10th studio album, “Blessed” (Lost Highway), was to branch out beyond her defining songwriting theme: The afterburn of love gone bad. Her lack of fulfillment had been the listener’s gain, producing a trove of soul-baring classics. Recently married, Williams has found the personal stability that eluded her most of her life. What would she write about now?
Silly question. She’s a poet’s daughter, with an ability to hone in on a lasting image and a natural empathy for the mess that humans make of their lives. Now she demonstrates her versatility with songs about mortality (“Copenhagen”) and unexplained wars (“Soldier’s Song) that are no less devastating than her best break-up songs. She still packs a nasty uppercut, as the abusive ex-boyfriend battered in “Buttercup” will attest. And if redemption were a song, it might sound a lot like “Born To Be Loved.”
Her band occasionally builds to galvanizing payoffs in “Seeing Black,” “Convince Me” and the title track. But mostly the hands-off production by a small team of collaborators including Don Was leaves plenty of space for the singer’s eloquently frayed voice to whisper, murmur and confide. In an after-hours session that suggests a honky-tonk cabaret, Williams lets the songs burn slowly and sensually until there’s nothing left but smoke and ash.
greg@gregkot.com