One of the many dispiriting things about the nine years that span Trumpino’s 2017 inaugural and today is how very few musicians have had the courage to put their heads over the parapet. Certainly not Bob Dylan, perish the thought. Joan Baez has, of course, though she is neither touring nor recording. Steve Earle too, and Jesse Welles, the thirtysomething troubadour whose dusty work boots are planted firmly on the Woody Guthrie road, and Bruce Springsteen, a consistent champion of blue-collar righteousness.
And there’s a good deal of that blue-collar righteousness in the work of Lucinda Williams, whose bluesy, rootsy, down-and-dirty Americana sound has drawn consistent praise through the better part of three decades and almost a score of albums. The press release describes World’s Gone Wrong as a “raw and unapologetic set of songs that were written and recorded with a sense of urgency”, and it’s not hype. There’s nothing complacent here – maybe every Democratic lawmaker should be sent a copy – but instead an anger and energy which demands that we face up to the dangerous socio-political global shit show, and the “two-faced masters /Tricking lost souls,” as she puts it in “Punchline”. It’s a powerful album that implicitly and explicitly urges us all to show resilience and courage: “Let me remind you / Just what’s at stake/ Apathy will blind you / Until it’s way too late,” she sings in “Freedom Speaks”. Amen.
Without ever being preachy or getting tiresome, the album tackles history’s manifest injustices, catalogued most powerfully in the heavy blues of “Black Tears” (“What the hell are we learning?”) and the day-to-day trials and tribulations of those desperately trying to scrape a living in the title track, of which her old friend Springsteen would surely be proud. Her distinctive, grainy voice - wavery on slow numbers, following a stroke – is perfect for the task.
“How Much Did You Get For Your Soul?” she demands four tracks in, and it's clear from the outset to whom the question is directed. “You sold the one thing given by God / ’Cause you thought it would make you rich / You’re nothing, but a worthless fraud / It was all just bait and switch / It’s the oldest story ever been told / You got nothin’ left to sell / Now your blood is running cold And you’re on the road to hell,” she sings, in a number that bowls along easily while quoting both St Matthew and Robert Johnson.
Mavis Staples, a battle-hardened veteran of the civil rights era, joins Williams on the old Bob Marley Number “So Much Trouble in the World” (and he thought 1979 was bad!) and it’s a powerful combo, while Nora Jones shows up for the closing track, “We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around”. The slow tempo, and Williams’ world-weary voice, suggest that for the moment all energy has dissipated. But you know tomorrow the fight will be rejoined.
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