{"id":438237,"date":"2026-01-26T08:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438237\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T08:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:55:09","slug":"lucinda-williams-worlds-gone-wrong-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438237\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucinda Williams: World\u2019s Gone Wrong Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

World\u2019s Gone Wrong is an album title suited to the times, one that suggests Lucinda Williams<\/a> is seeking some meaning amid the mayhem. It\u2019s a notion amplified by the song titles: \u201cSomething\u2019s Gotta Give,\u201d \u201cHow Much Did You Get for Your Soul,\u201d \u201cFreedom Speaks,\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019ve Come Too Far to Turn Around\u201d all seem to address the condition of constant chaos.<\/p>\n

Topical as it is, part of World\u2019s Gone Wrong is grounded in tradition. The title derives from \u201cThe World Is Going Wrong<\/a>,\u201d an old blues song by Mississippi Sheiks\u2014one irresistible to Bob Dylan<\/a>, who named a collection of blues and folk standards World Gone Wrong in 1993\u2014and Bob Marley<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSo Much Trouble in the World\u201d has a prominent place on the record, closing out its first side. Williams sings \u201cSo Much Trouble in the World\u201d as a duet with Mavis Staples<\/a>, and the soul legend is hardly the only guest here. Norah Jones<\/a> plays on the placid closer \u201cWe\u2019ve Come Too Far to Turn Around,\u201d Willie Nelson<\/a>\u2019s right-hand man Mickey Raphael lends harmonica to \u201cLow Life,\u201d and upcoming country singer Brittney Spencer sings on a pair of songs.<\/p>\n

No score yet, be the first to add.<\/p>\n

All these additional voices add the slightest suggestion of communion to World\u2019s Gone Wrong: Everybody is banding together to gather strength so they can pull through. With its stately spiritual crawl, \u201cWe\u2019ve Come Too Far to Turn Around\u201d makes the connection explicit, but that song serves as the record\u2019s benediction, closing the proceedings on a note of elegiac hope. For the rest of the record, Williams revels in the comfort of rock\u2019n\u2019roll, encouraging her band to play loud even when they\u2019re playing slow.<\/p>\n

The band, which remains anchored by bassist David Sutton and now features onetime Emmylou Harris<\/a> drummer Brady Blade and former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, sounds big and greasy, as comfortable with a slow, Stones<\/a>-y swagger of \u201cThe World\u2019s Gone Wrong\u201d as they are with the swampy blues of \u201cBlack Tears\u201d or the spritely soul of \u201cFreedom Speaks.\u201d There\u2019s a casual, authoritative swing to their performance that belies the stylistic range on the record; the songs touch upon different traditions, yet all sound of a piece.<\/p>\n

Their professionalism does lack a sense of urgency, though. When Williams sings about \u201cfalse gods and deceivers, playing on our deepest fears\u201d on \u201cPunchline,\u201d it\u2019s to a modulated, noir-ish blues; when she laments, \u201cThere\u2019s a heaviness to these days\u2026 I think we\u2019ve lost our way\u201d on \u201cSomething\u2019s Gotta Give,\u201d the guitars and rhythms offer moody, muscular support. The suppleness of the band softens Williams\u2019 tales of despair, transforming them into songs of solace, not outrage. This isn\u2019t an album designed to provoke action; it\u2019s to console kindred spirits. To that end, the key song is \u201cLow Life,\u201d a slow-burner about a dive bar where Slim Harpo\u2019s playing on the jukebox, the bartender pours good hurricanes, and nobody knows her face. \u201cI guess this is the lowlife, but it\u2019s where I wanna be,\u201d Williams sighs as she sinks into a groove that feels so familiar, it seems eternal. Sometimes, those familiar chord changes provide enough sustenance to get by.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

Lucinda Williams: World\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World\u2019s Gone Wrong is an album title suited to the times, one that suggests Lucinda Williams is seeking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12327,64,63,134,136,1672],"class_list":{"0":"post-438237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-albums","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-web"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}