Quadruple giveaway: Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (re-release)
Although Lucinda Williams is quite a bit twangier than my usual listening fare, her music is resilient, burnished, and strong. No precious "awwwww" lyrics, no Jesus Take The Wheel or Beaches of Cheyenne here, this is just solid backporch bluegrass country that always makes me feel a little bit fiercer when I listen to it.Her 1998 album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road was her masterpiece, a Grammy-award winner for Best Contemporary Folk Album that needs to be listened to on the open road as the title would imply. It's a thoughtful (but rollicking, and sometimes bitter) collection that traverses the grounds of loss, lust, and stories from a thousand little roadside bars across America.
Her best just got better recently with the re-release of Car Wheels On A Gravel Road as a remastered double disc with 3 previously unreleased songs added to the main album, and a second disc of live performances from WXPN Radio in Philly.
Thanks my pal Bruce from Some Velvet Blog (via Aquarium Drunkard), there's a little info on that second set to share. Bruce says, "Here's a cool back story. The live concert was from a WXPN summer festival that I booked back when Lu toured on that album. What happened was the A&R guy who did the re-issue wanted to do something cool and they were going through the vaults and found a box with these tapes in them and all the box said was Lucinda-WXPN. So, they threw it on, and it was this concert. There was no label, nothing. So the A&R guy asked around about WXPN which led to a call to me. We did the multi-track recording of the show, but never actually did anything and it sat on a shelf until I said they could go for it and use it." Glad you did, Bruce. What a find.Now, I have 4 of these double CDs to give away if you wanted to check out the re-release, or if you've never heard her but always meant to. To enter to win one, here's the gauntlet:
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road is an album to be listened to on the highway, preferably a dusty one across a desert somewhere, with the windows down (and I would definitely recommend with no air conditioning). Leave a comment to tell me one song that you personally like to listen to out on the wide open road.Winners for this one will be chosen at random from all coherent, contactable entrants.
Check out this jumpin' blues song, one of the unreleased tracks from the main disc:
Down The Big Road Blues - Lucinda Williams
And I just flat-out love this song. As I wrote about it last year, "There is some *delicious* slide guitar throughout in the vein of Ben Harper, and a leg-slappin', toe-tappin' beat. Stand up and listen to this and if you can be still throughout, then I think your rhythm-appreciator-thingie is broken."
Can't Let Go - Lucinda Williams
And a sample of the great live set from WXPN (Bruce is just rolling in the good music over there in the vaults); I've thought before that the title of this song and the way it's written may make it sound cornier and more cliched than the song itself deserves. The lyrics of this song are so dang evocative and sad and give me the chills. Junebug vs. hurricane indeed.
2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten - Lucinda Williams
PS - Lucinda has a new album coming out on Lost Highway on 2/13/2007. Called West, you can stream audio over on the Lost Highway site.
Labels: contests, lucinda williams
posted by heather @ 10:19 PM
58 comments
58 Comments:
Wiser Time by The Black Crowes has to be the best song ever to listen to on a long straight stretch of road, preferably one with farms and fields on either side. Sundown is also the best time to listen to it, especially if the sun's to your back. Little to no cars, temperature doesn't matter, but warmer would be nice
It's gotta be "Windfall" by Son Volt circa 1995. Damn, this song is timeless. I remember taking a road trip from Portland, Oregon all the way down to the Grand Canyon. We must have played that song 100 times....and it never got old. And with lyrics like "may the wind take your troubles away," you can see how such a song puts your mind at ease.
A friend of mine played a cassette recording of a record he was producing, and the only player in the office of the music club where we worked was the answering machine. He suggested that this would be a good way to critique the sound—if it worked here , it would sound good in the car, etc.
I was impressed, though the music wasn't my usual taste at the time. I hadn't even known he wanted to produce.
I little while later, I left that favorite job, and moved to San Francisco. I played a cassette copy of "Bring the Family" on the boring dusty stretch of I5, and watched the sun setting all pink and purple over the bare mountains of central California. And I never went back.
"Lipstick Sunset" by John Hiatt.
It's a little (OK, a lot) cliche, but traveling south on Route 9 with Born To Run blasting is still a required road trip at least once per summer in Jersey.
There's no better desolate driving song than Chris Rea's "Texas"....or even his "The Road To Hell"...either one would work. When living in Texas I would drive back from Austin, Gruene, or Luckenbach playing those two tunes winding through the farm roads back to my lake house. Those late night memories!
Brian
http://barkingarlo.blogspot.com/
I've had quite a few amazing drives through the Arizona/Mexican desert and so many of the Peacemakers songs evoke that place so well and remind me of the trips I've taken. If I have to choose, right now, my answers gotta be "Beautiful Disaster" by Roger Clyne and Peacemakers because it's the song that works on any highway I've ever been on!
'Where There's a Road' by Robbie Fulks...
It isn't soo much soundtrack material for the desolate open stretch... However, every road trip worth its salt needs at least one hell-bent-for-leather peel-out of a ramshakle roadhouse parking lot... pure top-down, foot-down, banjo-driven holler-along fun with just enough Tonk for this Honky...
Well; living not too far from the high desert in So Cal, I get to do a LOT of desert driving, especially going to Vegas and back; for me, I love Ry Cooders soundtrack to "Paris, Texas"; but for a single, late night driving song, there's just something about R.Dean Taylors "Indiana Wants Me", nothing like feeling like an outlaw when you're tearing down the middle of a deserted highway at 2.30am...
Johnny
I rarely drive the open road during the day, and the perfect night driving song for me is "Way Out" by Ellen Allien & Apparat. That whole CD is good for driving, really, if you're interested in the electronic route.
Revelator by Gillian Welch. It's one of those songs that when you listen to it, no matter what kind of scream-any-song mood you are in...you stop and become entranced. The entire cd for that matter is perfectly catered for long drives in the middle of nowhere.
"Put You Down" by Alejandro Escovedo. I picked up his "With These Hands" album in Milwaukee and had to drive back to Madison later that day, and for whatever reason, didn't put the CD in until I was on the highway. Glad that I did, because "Put You Down" is the opener and sounds like it was specifically designed for high speed driving. The pulsating bassline just encourages you to go faster, and the first time I heard the chorus, I just screamed "YEAH!!!" (especially dorky, considering I was alone). Then I looked at the speedometer and realized I was doing 90 in a popular speed trap along I-94 and eased off the gas a little.
Son Volt - "Trace" ... the whole album.
"Life on a Chain" by Pete Yorn has gotta be up there. It's a perfect song for either leaving someone behind or running towards someone, and even if you're not it's got a fantastic beat to drive to.
"Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn for the best highway drive-along sing-along song ever...and everyone knows what I'm talking about...when that song comes on the radio, I don't care who you are, you can't help but sing along.
I just love Lucinda. I don't need a copy of this great re-issue because as so as I saw it in a store I bought it. If I was gonna be in your contest I would say Just Had To See You So Bad by Lucinda which I used to play in my car when I was going to see my friend Stephanie in the big city. Lucinda commented somewhere that the song was about going to see someone and how the journey was better then when you got there. So true.
Sooo many great suggestions so far, I am totally making myself a mix out of every song you guys list here and those yet to come.
R-O-Dub, I know what you mean with Walking in Memphis. When it comes to that line about, "Tell me are you a Christian, child, and I said..."
(sing it with me now)
"Maaaaaaam I aaaaaam tonight!"
You'd have to be dead inside not to want to sing along.
'City Drops into the Night" by Jim Carroll band.
7 plus minutes of euphoria.
skeetmo
some1famous at hotmail dot com
For some reason, "Into the Great Wide Open" has always been one of my favorite highway songs. In fact, Tom Petty's greatest hits cd is often played in its entirety during road trips.
Unfortunately Radar Love by Gold Earring is still one of these songs for me.
Doubt I could ever answer this with one song, but lately it's been "Finest Worksong" off the recent R.E.M. best-of. I can do some awesome steering wheel drumming on that track.
Instructions:
1. Get in a Car in Las Vegas
2. Drive to edge of City, facing toward L.A.
3. Stop car
4. Roll down Windows
5. Turn volume up
6. Press play on stereo which has the Joshua Tree CD ready to go
7. Drive West
8. I can't help you with the goosebumps, you're on your own there. It's a religious experience.
Or, if you want to disqualify me for selecting an album instead of a song, get to L.A. and drive on a freeway with the title track from the Doors' L.A. Woman on the stereo. But do it at night, preferably when it isn't raining.
Pick me! Pick me!
BillyBlog did a Lucinda post the same day you did and I just only noticed yours today. That's not the first time that's happened, is it? I'm the cheaper, lazier brother-blog, ain't I?
I hope this isn't too obvious, but Tom Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open" was the first song to spring to mind (though his "Free Fallin'" runs a very close second).
Oh, and leaving out "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochran would be some kind of a crime. I haven't heard it in years 'n years (and I believe others have put out less-than-stellar versions since this one dropped up in Canadaland in the early 90s), but it's one you NEED to sing out to. That chorus is a real winner. Look into this one if you dunno it.
I agree on Tom Petty and the open road. My pick is Time to Move On.
It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, babe, the grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going.
I take it upon myself to represent the geezer segment of your readership (albeit the Lucinda-diggin' geezer segment) by saying that I once had a car tape especially made for the interstate, with tunes like Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Roll on Down the Highway," REO Speedwagon's "Roll With the Changes," and Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights." I once owned a small pickup truck that wouldn't go fast UNLESS I was playing "Roll on Down the Highway."
"Let It Ride" by Ryan Adams. About 30-40 minutes in most directions from where I live is a lot of farms and rural areas, it isn't really the sticks though, it just seems like it. The combination of that and this song makes me feel like upstate NY is somewhere in the midwest.
I made the mistake of buying a convertible in December. But on that first warm, spring drive home from work I listened to "Beautiful Day" by U2 about 10 times in a row.
Holly and I never listened to Josh Ritter on the way back from New Mexico this summer, yet I can't stop listening to "Monster Ballads" and thinking of all that green and brown rolling nothingness, with asphalt stretched in front of us, the pro-life billboards dotting the highway as we blew by, the oppressive heat at every rest stop and gas station, and reaching across to take her hand as storms chased us across the plains with the sun fading behind us like some giant obstacle overcome, leaving us with nothing to do but drive as fast as we could toward the unknown ahead of us.
Usually I like an upbeat song with good bass when it comes to driving, but (not fitting the profile) "Learning to Fly" by Tom Petty is my favourite. For me, it's really free and uplifting which...I believe is the point of the song, haha. It seems Tom is a popular choice!
pynbahl at hotmail dot com
OK, I am Canadian so most of my wide-open highway driving is more likely to be across a frozen highway, rather than a dust one. Unless you can count a dusting of snow.
For tundra driving, I'm going to go with a Canadian band -- "On The Hood" by Matt Mays and El Torpedo. They actually have a lot of good tundra driving songs, so it's a hard choice.
Love some of the other comments -- totally agree with Wiser Time by Black Crowes, great driving song.
Funny the first thing that came to my mind was the record Trace by Son Volt which has been referenced twice here already! In lieu - I will recommend the first record by the great, late Chris Whitley - Living With the Law. These songs evoke the dry,dusty road and are beautiful. Rest In Piece Chris.
thanks Heather
Grant
Oxypoet has a fine, fine point. I just imagined the opening chords of 'The Joshua Tree' while hitting the pavement. That is killer.
Myself, I always go back to 'Of Joy And Sorrow' by Denison Witmer. Yes, I'm biased because he's my favourite artist and a friend. We should be so lucky to be able to socialize with those who make our favourite art. Anyhow, that album was designed to have a travel feel to it, as Denison told me when it came out. Some of the tracks have less-than-ideal arrangements (it was only his second album so I give him a break on letting others - *cough* Blake Wescott *hack* - influence him) but it definitely gets me in the mood to drive. My favourite would probably be 'Rock Run' because it's about driving to through the Pennsylvanian mountains to go on a weekend road trip. I like to imagine I'm driving to the cottage in the summer. That's my pick.
I'd pick Wayne Hancock's Johnson City. I guess it's not that well-known but it's such a great arm-out-the-window, hat-tipped-back slow driving song, I feel like jumping on the highway every time I hear the first bars. "All I need will be my baby and a thousand miles of open desert road."
Blue Mountain's "Blue Canoe" is the perfect windows-down, dirt-road (preferrably not long after a rain, so it's not dusty), bound for a creekbank with a cane-pole and a cooler of cheap beer song - be glad to send ya a copy. Son Volt's "Windfall" would be my second choice and RCPM's "Counterclockwise" would be third.
I agree Heather, these suggestions are better than anything I was thinking of. I'd love to hear the resulting compilation. Still, I want to be entered in the contest, so, how about Seven Little Girls (Sitting In The Back Seat), by Paul Evans and the Curls?
Heather, this thread is awesome. Please compile this mix as one of those fab-o zip files you do so well.
I drive through the deep south fairly regularly. Emmylou Harris's song Red Dirt Girl is mandatory for driving through eastern Mississippi. Heck, just pop in the whole CD for the perfect mood music straight on from Alabama straight on through Meridian. Where do I go to collect my sweet new re-mastered "Two Wheels" - which covers much of the same geography?
LUCINDA WILLIAMS- JOY
NEKO CASE- MOOD TO BURN BRIDGES
WHISKEYTOWN- MIDWAY PARK
I COULD GO ON FOREVER...
you know, i've gotta say "row row row your boat"...let me just hit the highlights...
- 14 hours driving, it's now about 3:00am
- completely lost in longview, tx
- 3" of ice water in the floor of my jeep
- my delirious then girlfriend/now wife singing row row row your boat as she made paddling motions between the driver's and passenger seats
and i can't take a road trip without thinking of it...
i know it's a cliche, but i really do think Led Zepplin's "Since i've been loving you" is probably the best driving song ever. no matter how focused you were on the road or how sad or brooding, you just HAVE TO whip out the air-guitar and give a mean drumming on the steerin wheel.
it's actually really dangerous :)
guyha@haoneg.com
Gee wiz, there are so many including I JUst Want To See You So Bad, numerous road songs from his royal Bruceness, but right now to name one for several reasons it has to be Ron Wood's Seven Days from the Dylan 30th anniversary show. It's about missing someone, counting time til the reunion, and that driving beat is perfect for the highway. I started working away from home in 2003. The first road trip lasted two months...by far the longest we'd been apart in almost 20 years. One night not long before I got to go home for the first time I realized RW's cover of the Dylan song fit the bill perfectly. That an internet music friend was able to feed me an mp3 in such a needy time of jukebox fury love madness gives it a certain extra msagical quality in my heart.
Easy. Neko case's "Star Witness"; windows down, at night...
I live in Europe, i've never been to America, but closest i get is when i play to myself "Golden" by My Morning Jacket. For me , it feel's like an open road, prairie under stars,i'm driving my truck, forgetin' my life, forgetin' who i am, it's transcedental.
"My Winding Wheel" by Ryan Adams. Summer sunset in New England. Windows down, sunroof open. Dunkin Donuts coffee with way too much cream and sugar shoved into the center console. Driving through the mountains. M-m-m.
Apologies in advance for the comment length, but the mix CD that has stood the test of travel for me:
Goin' to Chicago Blues (Ernestine Anderson)
Take the 'A' Train (Sarah Vaughan)
Last Train to Clarksville (Cassandra Wilson)
Route 66 (Nat King Cole)
Travellin' South (Albert Collins)
If I Don't Be There by Morning (Eric Clapton)
Ramblin' on My Mind (Robert Johnson)
Friend of the Devil (Lyle Lovett)
Guitar Town (Steve Earle)
B Movie Boxcar Blues (Delbert McClinton)
Memphis in the Meantime (John Hiatt)
Travelin' Prayer (Dolly Parton)
Truckin (Dwight Yoakam)
Having a Real Bad Day (Taj Mahal)
Call Me the Breeze (J.J. Cale)
Midnight Rider (Allman Brothers)
The Road's My Middle Name (Bonnie Raitt)
If I had to pick just one, though, it'd be Lucinda doing "Right in Time." From the upbeat to the ending chord, it's great and tight and makes me sing bad harmony over Jim Lauderdale and drive way too fast.
Why limit yourself to one song, when The Magnetic Fields created a whole album in honor of the theme: "The Charm Of The Highway Strip", which I find to be the most charming and least talked about disc from the great mastermind of Stephin Merritt. He takles it all, from lonely highways and dust bowl lament to country roads in Vermont, the moon and longing for rides on the railway. A great road trip collection from a great songwriter.
If this is open to Canadians, and if I'm not too late, I'd love a chance to win a cd - my tape of this album wore out a while ago.
I'm glad you asked for one song I like rather than my favourite, because I don't think I could choose a favourite and this wouldn't be it if I could. One song I like to listen to on the road is Steve Earle's "Sweet Little '66."
I would say Shawn Colvin's new one, Fill Me Up. Great driving beat, singalong harmonies, and lyrics: "Fill me up, fill me up I'm a long way from home and I don't have a lot to say. Fill me up, fill me up, cuz you're all that I've got and I've travelled a long, long way."
I don't need the CD, already got it, but I just wanted to share my idea.
I like lazy, dusty-sounding songs about listening to the radio. Ghost Repeater by Jeffrey Foucault, Monster Ballads by Josh Ritter, and the fourteen minute haze of Gillian Welch's I Dream a Highway are some favorites.
Oops - that last one was from lkoenig @ simmons . edu
a little off the wall, but it depends on the mood, time of night/day, naturally. but here are two..Tom Waits' Heart Attack and Vine, don't ask me why, just try it. And when it's a quiet, clear night...convertible top down or not, Beck's Golden Age.
"Lonely Highway Night" or "City of Lakes" By Matt Mays (www.mattmays.com). Anything from his first two CDs really is awesome on the road.
"Let It Ride" by Ryan Adams. About 30-40 minutes in most directions from where I live is a lot of farms and rural areas, it isn't really the sticks though, it just seems like it. The combination of that and this song makes me feel like upstate NY is somewhere in the midwest.
^I already said that but I forgot my email address: pcauvel@rochester.rr.com
When I first moved to Colorado, we used to listen to the Crash Test Dummies "God Shuffled His Feet" album (and song of the name) as we drove up to the fabulous Rocky Mountains to go skiing. I'd pick that one if I were driving up I-70 towards Breck/Copper/Vail. It's got sort of an awe-inspiring "brand new day" feel to it, just like the Rocky Mountains do on an early winter morning.
If I were driving up the California Coast, it'd have to be "Highway 101" by Social Distortion. A cool punk rock song about believing in love again. And taking a drive.
And when I drive to Vegas, I always always always have to play "Viva Las Vegas" by the big E as soon as I see the lights of the Strip. One of the best musical salutes to the vibe of a city ever put on vinyl. Or CD, depending on your age...
Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride". Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" and Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again". And Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight".
I wanna win. I know I am 2 weeks too late. This song: Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down The Crazy River. Check out the video, but the music will paint it's own pictures. Hot, dusty and sexy, sexy, sexy.
This may sound weird but got to go with Ministry's "Psalm 69" A friend back at university was into them and I actually liked a couple of their songs. I threw this on a mixed tape and would just listen to it over and over while driving. Not your typical entry (especially for a Lucinda Williams album) but I just connected to this song while driving.
Ok b/c Life is a Highway was my first choice but already called, I'd have to go with....
-Surrender by Cheap Trick
-Picture Book by The Kinks
True story: I was driving Raleigh, NC to Indianapolis, IN for a summer job, the northern route through Ohio. I had lots of tapes with me but for some reason, the one with "Village Green Preservation Society" on one side and "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" on the other kept being played. I swear to God, it was the only thing that got me through Ohio, when I was making deals with God if only he'd get me to the state line as quick as possible because I couldn't stand driving another second.
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