One of my most favourite Female Singer / Songwriter discs, it's hard to pigeon-hole her, she started out quite Bluesy, i suppose delved into Country somewhat, but i guess can be called Americana, she certainly has a way with words, especially on the title track, she isn't bothered if things don't rhyme, and if her words are a bit clumsy with the music, there's real feeling behind the words, some of the tracks towards the end sound a bit filler, but there are gems aplenty, this is her very best disc in my opinion, already a yearly 'regular' in my Blog [29th July 2011 & 26th March 2010].
Lucinda Williams is american, she's now 59, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road is her fifth album, it came out in 1998, the front cover photograph [by Birney Imes] is of some small wooden house down a dirt road, i saw stuff like this when i was in the boonies in Maine, a load of timber just knocked together on a huge piece of land, and in this shot Christmas lights up outside [though some people liked to put coloured lights up all year round, and were nothing to do with Christmas], i like the road which naturally leads the eye to the house, and the lettering is slanted, very nice.
The great tracks were 1-3, 7 & 9, with 3 & 9 the best of all, track 9 'Metal Firecracker' is superb, i heard that a metal firecracker is a tour bus, even though in the song it talks about being 'your biker', so i assumed it was about a motorbike, though i conclude the opening words 'Once we rode together in a metal firecracker', rather than 'on' means it's some four wheeled vehicle, i think also 'rode' rather than 'drove' put me on the wrong track, a really upbeat rhythm to it, the crack on a drumstick and we're away, the opening lead guitar has a lovely twangy sound [0:01-0:15], Williams vocals are magnificent, there's a real Country backwoods feel to it, she gets strong and passionate in the right places, halfway through the first verse 'Once i was in your blood, and you were obsessed with me', love the lyrics, and it's a song about the madness of infatuation, and 'secrets', the second verse starts 'Once you held me so tight, i thought i'd lose my mind', the emphasis on 'lose' is crazy, i love that, the chorus is great, Gurf Morlix comes in on harmony backing, makes the chorus stronger melodically than the verses, and the twang of his guitar is really expressive here, one of the very best tracks on the album.
Here's Lucinda Williams singing 'Metal Firecracker' on YouTube.
Here's Lucinda Williams singing 'Metal Firecracker' on YouTube.
