Lucinda Williams Announces New Album “Ghosts of Highway 20”
Lucinda Williams isn’t slowing down anytime soon. After releasing a double album in September of 2014 called Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, and walking away with the Americana Music Awards’ Album of the Year, the legendary alt-country Americana songwriter has been back at work and is ready to release a new record called Ghosts of Highway 20 on February 5th, 2016.
Highway 20, aka Interstate 20, which runs along the southern part of the United States starting in South Carolina and ending in West Texas, has been referenced by Lucinda Williams before. The name of her Thirty Tigers personalized label is “Highway 20 Records,” and Lucinda has been performing a new song called “Ghosts of Highway 20” in concert recently.
The album is said to be different than anything Lucinda has recorded before from the cohesive theme running through the songs. 12 of the 14 tracks on Ghosts of Highway 20 are inspired by events or other personal links to the interstate that runs through Lucinda’s home state of Louisiana. However it’s not an album about geography, but about the people that reside along the interstate, and the stories they hold. It also includes a a new interpretation of Bruce Springsteen’s “Factory,” and a “lost” Woody Guthrie song Lucinda wrote the music to.
The album is also said to include “some of the most expansive and experimental arrangements Williams has ever recorded.” The release was produced by Lucinda Williams, with help from Tom Overby, and steel guitarist Greg Leisz. Along with Greg Leisz, other contributing musicians include guitarists Bill Frisell, Val McCallum, and Williams’ rhythm section of Butch Norton (drums) and David Sutton (bass).
Lucinda explains more in the below video taken at a songwriter round at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
October 28, 2015 @ 9:14 pm
When I first heard about ‘Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone,’ I was also under the impression that Lu had recorded another album’s worth of tracks (about 15 or so) with Bill Frisell during the same sessions that was supposed to come out earlier this year. I wonder if this is that project, or a new, different thing…
October 29, 2015 @ 2:32 am
Song is a bit too bluesy for my tastes.
By the way, I wonder if the “Highway 20” idea was partially inspired by the Zac Brown Band’s heartbreakingly exquisite song “Highway 20 Ride”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEdez_DXanw
Goodness, I miss those days in country radio.
October 29, 2015 @ 8:07 am
No, my guess it was not inspired by Zac Brown at all, whatsoever. Not sure Lucinda knows who Zac Brown is.
October 29, 2015 @ 8:34 am
Agreed. MAYBE she has heard the name through the ether. I’ve gotten the impression that she’s not up on what’s going on in the mainstream country world.
October 29, 2015 @ 5:09 am
Very cool song. Love me some Lucinda Williams!
October 29, 2015 @ 7:18 am
I heard her perform the title song live in concert a month or so ago, and was very impressed. Can’t wait for this one to come out.
October 29, 2015 @ 7:46 am
Yay.
October 29, 2015 @ 8:04 am
In the immortal words of a Pearl Jam fan in the crowd on one of their live recordings, during a long-winded Eddie Vedder ‘speech’,
“Play a Song!”
October 29, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
I couldn’t make it through the entire song (after I skipped past the lenghty setup). She doesn’t have it vocally anymore, and it’s been that way for a long time.
October 29, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
Great news! I know Gena and Jack really liked DWTSMTB and although I didn’t dislike it, it just felt more like a B-sides compilation than a cohesive album. This sounds like a project I can really get behind.