CD Review

Lucinda Williams
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
(Warner Brothers)

This is an astonishing but troubling album. Legendary for the pains it cost Williams to make, it sounds fantastic and the writing is phenomenally rich. But after awhile, one wonders at the price of the songs themselves. The songs' speakers and heroes are generally drunk, abusive or abused, poor and uprooted. The lyrics sketch out a nomadic atlas of unloved towns across the South, places like Lafayette and Nagadoches which have become practically chic in their stubborn refusal to prosper. A creepy hopelessness pervades this album, and there may be more than a little hypocrisy in loving it too much. The title song and "Drunken Angel" are standout tracks. -HB