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Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone

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Untitled

Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is Lucinda Williams' eleventh studio album. The double album was released on September 30, 2014. It is the first album on Williams' own Highway 20 Records label.[1] The song "Compassion," from which the album title is derived, is based on a poem by her father, Miller Williams.

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic83/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Austin Chronicle[4]
Chicago Tribune[5]
CuepointB+[6]
The Daily Telegraph[7]
Exclaim!7/10[8]
The Independent[9]
musicOMH[10]
PopMatters7/10[11]
Slant Magazine[12]

Critical reception

The album received acclaim from music critics. "[T]hough this doesn't always sound like an album where Williams is challenging herself musically, for a musician who has long believed in the power of nuance, this is an album that feels unerringly right for her, full of sweet and sour blues, acoustic pondering, and simple, bare bones rock & roll that slips into the groove with Williams' literate but unpretentious songs," writes Mark Deming at AllMusic.[13] The New York Times says, "On past albums Ms. Williams has portrayed herself at moments of rage, excess and grief; now she prefers stability. Her songs are fully aware of wounds and pitfalls, but they’re more likely to be looking back or looking outward."[14] Tom Moon writes at NPR, "She's always been able to conjure brokenhearted misery from a single note; now, she can ramp up to fury that quickly, too. And resignation. And let's face it: In terms of pure expression, no singer in popular music can touch Williams when she's calling from the lonely outskirts of Despairville. She sounds like it's her permanent residence, that place down deep where the spirit meets the bone."[15]

Guest appearances

Guest appearances on the album include harmony vocals by Jakob Dylan on the song "It's Gonna Rain", guitar by Tony Joe White on two songs, and keyboards by Ian McLagan on five songs. Elvis Costello's backing group plays on a few songs with Stuart Mathis of The Wallflowers. Bill Frisell plays guitar on two songs.[16]

Track Listing

Disc 1

All tracks are written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Compassion" (Words by Miller Williams, music and additional words by Lucinda Williams)Miller Williams, Lucinda WilliamsLucinda Williams2:57
2."Protection"  4:47
3."Burning Bridges"  4:49
4."East Side of Town"  4:56
5."West Memphis"  5:44
6."Cold Day in Hell"  5:16
7."Foolishness"  5:57
8."Wrong Number"  5:01
9."Stand Right by Each Other"  3:58
10."It's Gonna Rain"  4:18

Disc 2

All tracks are written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Something Wicked This Way Comes" 5:45
2."Big Mess" 5:32
3."When I Look at the World" 4:56
4."Walk On" 4:11
5."Temporary Nature (Of Any Precious Thing)" 5:05
6."Everything But the Truth" 5:11
7."This Old Heartache" 5:03
8."Stowaway in Your Heart" 3:27
9."One More Day" 6:21
10."Magnolia" (Written by JJ Cale)JJ Cale9:51

Personnel

Additional Musicians:

Charts

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 13.[17] It debuted at No. 1 on the Folk Albums and No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums charts with 20,000 copies sold for the week.[18]

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 45
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 129
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[21] 11
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 77
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 20
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 58
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 94

References

  1. ^ Deming, Mark. "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone: Overview" AllMusic (Accessed October 5, 2014).
  2. ^ "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone - Lucinda Williams". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  3. ^ Deming, Mark. "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  4. ^ Freeman, Doug. "Review: Lucinda Williams - Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  5. ^ Kot, Greg. "Lucinda Williams 'Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone'". Exclaim!. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (November 28, 2014). "Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  7. ^ McCormick, Neil. "Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  8. ^ Greene, Sarah. "Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Exclaim!. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  9. ^ Gill, Andy. "Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". The Independent. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  10. ^ Paton, Daniel. "Lucinda Williams - Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". musicOMH. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  11. ^ Whitelock, Ed. "Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". PopMatters. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  12. ^ Rice, Paul. "Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  13. ^ Deming
  14. ^ "Twangy Homilies About Shouldering Through the Pain: New Albums from Lucinda Williams and Christopher Owens New York Times, September 29, 2014.
  15. ^ Moon, Tom. "First Listen: Lucinda Williams, 'Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone'" National Public Radio, September 21, 2014.
  16. ^ Dregni, Michael (December 2014). "Exile on a Gravel Road". Vintage Guitar. p. 138.
  17. ^ "Lucinda Williams Revels In Creative Freedom: 'I'm An Optimist'". Associated Press via Billboard. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
  18. ^ Emily White (October 10, 2014). "Lucinda Williams Tops Folk Albums Chart, U2 Hits Alternative Songs Milestone". Billboard.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  21. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  22. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  23. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  24. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  25. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
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