Album Review: Lucinda Williams Ghosts of Highway 20

Inspired by her countless treks back and forth along the 1,500 mile Interstate 20, which traverses much of her home patch between South Carolina and Texas, in Ghosts Of Highway 20, Lucinda Williams offers a personal travelogue, via songs that are mostly autobiographical evocations and memories.

A rambling, impressionistic, and at times unfocused affair, it’s about as far from her commercial breakthrough, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, as she has travelled. Still, and here’s the rub: despite the brooding atmosphere and contemplative lyrics, Williams’ world-weary drawl and irresistible guitar twang get you every time.

The subdued opener ‘Dust’ is inspired by a poem written by her late father, the poet Miller Williams. ‘House of Earth’ continues in a melancholy mood, while the lovely, lilting ballad ‘Place In My Heart’ – built around a classic pop/country chord progression – is the kind of song you could easily imagine Ricky Nelson or The Everly Brothers performing. A kind of darkness descends on the chilling ‘Death Came’ – which has echoes of Dylan’s ‘Sarah’ – while the country-blues of ‘Doors of Heaven’ finds Williams revisiting the territory she explored on ‘Changed The Locks’, from her debut album.

Nostalgic childhood reminiscences are evoked on the sublime, epic, nine-minute ‘Louisiana Story’, in which she recalls, “running, chasing after the ice-cream wagon, mama can I have a quarter?” It’s not all happy memories though; on the swampy title track she grieves (“I went through hell when I was younger”), while Sun Studios-era rock and roll backdrops the equally regret-filled ‘Bitter Memory’. A version of Springsteen’s working-man’s lament, ‘Factory’, fits in neatly here – the fiery guitar solo and insistently slow rhythm emphasising the drudgery of hard labour.

Elsewhere, the Neil Young-like ‘Close The Door On Love’ is the sort of heartfelt country-rock ballad Williams excels at, while the Tex Mex-flavoured ‘If My Love Could Kill’ recalls the more contemporary desert textures of Calexico. This is a ramble well worth taking...

Key Track: ‘Close The Door On Love’

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8/10