The legendary Americana songwriter Lucinda Williams releases her new album World’s Gone Wrong.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right. Each Friday, a ton of great new music is released, and we get to talk about the most exciting album of the week with excellent DJs from NPR member stations for New Music Friday.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WORLD’S GONE WRONG (FEAT BRITTNEY SPENCER)”)
LUCINDA WILLIAMS: (Singing) Dark days are getting long. Looking for comfort in a song. And everybody knows the world’s gone wrong.
CHANG: And this week, we got legendary Americana songwriter Lucinda Williams, who returns today with a new album called “World’s Gone Wrong.” Here to break it down with me is Jessie Scott of member station WMOT in Nashville. Hey, Jessie.
JESSIE SCOTT, BYLINE: Hello. So good to be here.
CHANG: Hello (laughter). So Lucinda Williams. I mean, she’s been putting out music for – like, what? – more than 45 years. Does this latest album feel like new terrain for her?
SCOTT: Yes and no. There’s common themes that you will find that run throughout her career. There’s a healing process, a personal healing process, that you hear in her voice over the course of the last several years. It’s been difficult as she recovered from her stroke, but she’s back. And then on top of that, she has delved in the past into protest music, and that’s continued on this album as well.
CHANG: Protest music – was this album intended to be a protest album?
SCOTT: Actually, it was. She was planning a different album, but she said last year that she felt an urgency to address the current situation and created “World’s Gone Wrong” in response. She was quoted as saying, music is a powerful weapon. I want this record to make people aware, wake them up. Now, you know, there’s a protest element to this whole album, specifically on the song “How Much Did You Get For Your Soul,” which has a protest narrative, though she doesn’t name names and also has just this great ’60s garage-band jingle jangle.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HOW MUCH DID YOU GET FOR YOUR SOUL”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) How much did you get for your soul? How much did you get for your soul? How much did you get for your soul? How much did you get for your soul?
CHANG: Is it weird that I like to dance to something that’s a protest song?
(LAUGHTER)
SCOTT: It’s my favorite.
CHANG: ‘Cause I’m moving in my chair right now (laughter).
SCOTT: It’s my favorite track on the album, insidious as it is. Lucinda has a way of narrating life and kind of spoon-feeding it to you so that indeed you can dance, but yet, you’re thinking.
CHANG: I love it.
SCOTT: I think that’s such a gift.
CHANG: Dance and think – OK, but I have to ask you about the album’s title, “World’s Gone Wrong,” which sounds pretty bleak, Jessie. Well, I mean, the music is obviously not all doom and gloom. I’m already, like, moving in my chair.
SCOTT: There’s actually a lot of hope and a lot of joy on this and all Lucinda albums, even in the title track – which, by the way, is a collaboration with Brittney Spencer – about our broken world. There’s still a reminder to experience joy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WORLD’S GONE WRONG (FEAT BRITTNEY SPENCER)”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) She holds him tight and softly smiles, says, baby, let’s put on some Miles and dance barefoot across the tiles and forget our troubles for a little while.
CHANG: Lu has always been in touch with everyday people and really represents the poetry of common existence.
SCOTT: And I understand that Lu also collaborated with some really revered artists on this album, right? Like, can you tell me more about some of these guest stars?
CHANG: There’s a song with Norah Jones, “We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around Now (ph).”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE’VE COME TOO FAR TO TURN AROUND”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) Led astray by his disguise.
SCOTT: Very Lucinda Williams, car wheels kind of vibe to it. So a continuation of sentiment that she has covered before. And then she covers the Bob Marley tune, “So Much Trouble In The World,” with backing vocals by Mavis Staples.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SO MUCH TROUBLE IN THE WORLD (FEAT MAVIS STAPLES)”)
LUCINDA WILLIAMS AND MAVIS STAPLES: (Singing) So much trouble in the world. All you got to do is give a little, give a little, give a little.
SCOTT: I love the percussion of that.
CHANG: Yeah.
SCOTT: “So Much Trouble In The World” takes you to the islands, doesn’t it?
CHANG: It does. Thank you so much, Jessie.
SCOTT: Thanks for having me.
CHANG: Lucinda Williams’ new album, “World’s Gone Wrong,” is out today. And you can hear more from Jessie Scott of WMOT in Nashville on NPR Music’s New Music Friday podcast.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SO MUCH TROUBLE IN THE WORLD (FEAT MAVIS STAPLES)”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) So much trouble in the world. So much trouble in the world.
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