Lucinda steering beyond `Car Wheels' by DAVID BAUDER, AP writer
The album "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" is the work that introduced Lucinda Williams to most of her fans. It won a Grammy. Rolling Stone and Spin called it one of the top discs of the 1990s. It has sold twice as much as anything else she's done.
An undeniable career highlight, it's been a straitjacket for its creator, too. "Ever since `Car Wheels' I've been struggling with where do I go now? What do I do?" she told The Associated Press. "I was defined by `Car Wheels' and everything I've done since gets compared to `Car Wheels.'"
"West," released Tuesday and her third collection of new music since that 1998 landmark, may be the disc to set her free. Produced by Hal Willner, it's a sonic departure with tight writing and experimental song structure. Williams' weathered voice and depressing subject matter sound familiar, but it's miles away from the gravel road.
Frozen by the pressure of following up her signature disc, Williams went nearly five years without writing a thing. She kept touring, playing the same songs over and over. Like so many other songwriters, she took a specific inspiration from Bob Dylan — in this case his late-career resurgence started by the 1997 "Time Out of Mind" album. Williams, 54, saw it as Dylan moving forward and not worrying about topping classics like "Blood on the Tracks" or feeling he had to write in the same way. - complete article
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