Music
Lucinda Williams rocks back with Bruce Springsteen
Lucinda Williams tells enchanting “Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart”. photo
© Danny Clinch/October Promotion/dpa
She is a real fighter: The singer and songwriter Lucinda Williams presents a new album after a stroke – rocking Americana with a dash of melancholy.
You have to have a big heart for rock ‘n’ roll if you’re fighting your way back onto the music scene after a serious stroke. Now the 70-year-old songwriter and three-time Grammy winner is proving herself Lucinda Williams once again demonstrates what an unwavering artist she is with her new album, Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart.
At the end of 2020, the American musician suffered a stroke that took away her ability to walk and play the guitar. Her good friend and fellow musician Jesse Malin sided with her and took on the role of a guitar-wielding ghost composer of sorts on the new album to “realize her vision,” according to the statement ahead of the release. Bruce Springsteen also took part and provided the rich backing vocals on the song “New York Comeback” along with his wife Patti Scialfa.
The result is ten songs for the new album, which according to the record label is dedicated to her friend Tom Petty, who died in 2017 and to whom she bowed in 2020 with the record “A Tribute To Tom Petty”. “Tom was a down to earth, sweet, loving person and I miss his music but I miss him even more,” Williams gushed of her boyfriend, with whom she – as well as Bob Dylan – has toured in the past.
Now add this musical monument to Petty, which is packed with rock bangers – a robust piece of Americana sound paired with a defiant undertone of the fighter Williams, which can be heard in the track “Rock N Roll Heart”, for example.
But what would an album by this grand dame be without a good portion of melancholy. This comes on the new album in the form of the song “Where The Song Will Find Me”, among other things. As soon as you hear this classic rock ballad for the first time, you have the images of the lighters swinging through the air in your mind’s eye – and would love to ignite them yourself on the sofa at home.
The record draws from the rich sources of the Americana genre with its roots in blues, soul, a pinch of country and of course rock. Williams easily joins the ranks of her buddies Springsteen, Petty and Dylan – the very heart of American rock ‘n’ roll.
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