LUCINDA WILLIAMS - World’s Gone Wrong

It was bound to happen: once again musicians are raising their voices against those in power. What's new this time is that the mainstream scene is also doing its part. Donald Trump's victory has raised the level of conflict, even brushing up against civil war, and in step with that, artists are taking a clearer stand against the authoritarian drift of the current US administration.

Some will say that despite Taylor Swift taking a stand, America still failed to avoid the Trump nightmare, but in an apparently democratic context, the winds of revolt appear decidedly less forceful, though no less significant for that. While Bruce Springsteen defies the government by offering money and support to the family of Renee Nicole Good, other leading figures of American rock music are stepping up, blending art and politics. Beyond its purely artistic merit, the latest album by Mavis Staples has also been at the center of deep socio-political reflection. Now another historic voice of American music joins this chorus of dissent: Lucinda Williams. With a title that leaves no doubt, "World's Gone Wrong", the Louisiana singer-songwriter gets straight to the point, lining up a series of songs as musically powerful as they are cutting.

"Things are getting bad, but it could get worse" - with these words the singer-songwriter opens the most powerful, militant album of her career. But there's no room here for the sentimentality that often infects so much protest music: the band keeps time with just the grit needed to convey, in real time, all the author's rage and anguish.

Trusted producer Ray Kennedy and life-and-art partner Tom Overby unveil musical instincts worthy of the sharp, lucid lyrics, but it's the choral spirit with which the various guests and friends contribute to the final result that is the real surprise of "World's Gone Wrong".

The songs flow with striking naturalness - take as an example the southern-rock swagger of "Something's Gotta Give", perfectly suited to a bitter reflection on the many fractures within American society.

Let it be clear that Lucinda Williams's latest album is not a musically groundbreaking record - quite the opposite: the current lineup opts for sounds and arrangements geared toward a live rendering rather than toward some singer-songwriter status to be handed down to the long tradition of American country-rock.

Even when the author chooses to lower the tone with softer, more velvety ballads, what emerges is an urgency that tempers any purely compositional ambition. The enveloping "Slow Life" shamelessly echoes melodic ideas reminiscent of John Hiatt and Dr John, while the waltz-time ballad "We've Come Too Far To Turn Around" unveils a Bob Dylan-esque mood and features Norah Jones on backing vocals.

Lucinda Williams stays true to her role as a fiery interpreter of the rock and pop tradition. Having previously tackled, with fine results, the repertoires of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and, more recently, songs by the Beatles, on "World's Gone Wrong" she draws on familiar sonic languages, from pop-rock to the Patti Smith-esque "How Much Did You Get For Your Soul" to a cover of Bob Marley's "So Much Trouble In The World", sung as a duet with Mavis Staples, all in order to make an album aimed at awakening consciences immediately accessible.

The fact that a successful artist has chosen to raise her voice ("Sing Unburied Sing"), to restore identity to the term rock-blues ("Black Tears"), and to entrust music with a value that is not just comforting but committed and socially relevant ("Freedom Speaks") is a sign of the times. And even if "World's Gone Wrong" remains simply a fine country-rock-blues album, played exactly as it should be but without any seismic shifts or groundbreaking innovation, it hardly matters: Lucinda Williams's message carries more weight than any purely musical logic. This is excellent old-time music, sung and lived with a maturity and awareness that are the fruit of a life lived against the current, not without obstacles - a perfect summation of an artistic journey that deserves respect.

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24/01/2026