From its cover in,
Lucinda Williams'
Blessed stands out. It title is readily visible in color photographs of anonymous citizens holding handmade signs, yet her name appears nowhere but the spine. The songs on
Blessed are equally jarring: they offer sophisticated changes in her lyric oeuvre, extending their reach beyond first-person narratives of unrequited love and loss. She adorns these new tomes with roots rock and blues melodies dynamically illustrated by
Don Was' sure-handed production (with assistance from
Eric Liljestrand and husband
Tom Overby. Her voice is front and center, but
Was pushes an edgy, tight backing band -- fueled by
Greg Leisz's and Val McAllum's guitars and
Rami Jaffee's B-3 -- to frame it in greasy, easy grooves. Some guests who appeared on 2008's
Little Honey -- notably
Matthew Sweet and
Elvis Costello -- return here. Set opener "Buttercup" is a rollicking kiss-off to a former boyfriend in which
Williams simply lays out the truth as she sees it amid a strident rock & roll cadence. The guitars swell and fade while the B-3 swirls around her voice and the low-end drums hammer her vocal accents home. On the overdriven "Seeing Black," written for the late
Vic Chesnutt,
Williams, buoyed by an uncharacteristically scorching guitar break from
Costello, offers no judgment; she simply questions his spirit as she struggles to accept the loss. Acceptance is a key theme on
Blessed; it's voiced in the languid country rock of "I Don't Know How You're Living," with its pledge of unconditional love and support, and in the rumbling, explosive "Awakening." (An extension of "Atonement" from
World Without Tears). But there's a militancy that's insisted upon here: it testifies to the willingness and resilience of the human heart. "Soldier's Song," written from a serviceman's point of view in a war zone, juxtaposes home and the new place he finds himself standing. In the late-night blues of "Born to Be Loved" and in the garagey title track,
Williams employs repetitive, poetic lyrics that could be chanted as well as sung; in her honeyed Louisiana drawl, however, they become as sensual as a sunset in late summer. The two love songs near the record's end alternately express raw need and abundance. The unabashed humility in pleading on "Convince Me" is signified by a Southern R&B groove. "Kiss Like Your Kiss" closes the set two cuts later -- in waltz time -- by expressing gratitude for the abundant romantic love her protagonist experiences. It's painted by washes of lilting guitars, strings, and vibes.
Blessed is
Williams' most focused recording since
World Without Tears; it stands with it and her 1988 self-titled Rough Trade as one of her finest recordings to date. Its shift in lyric focus is amplified by the care and detail in the album's production and crackling energy. By deliberately shifting to a harder-edged roots rock sonic palette, Blessed moves
Williams music down the road from the dead-end Americana ghetto without compromising her qualities as a songwriter or performer. ~ Thom Jurek