‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’ is singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams’ fifth album released in 1998.

To give a brief background on Williams, she was born a rolling stone. Her late father Miller Williams was a college professor. She was much travelled as her family moved often, to Mexico and Chile and a dozen Southern towns. Williams’s rebellious attitude resulted in her getting expelled from a New Orleans high school for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in protest of Vietnam. She was well read and through her father came in contact with beat generation stalwarts like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski and, most influentially the Southern Gothic novelist Flannery O’Connor.

At 18, she left home and belonged nowhere as there was no alternative country rock in 1974 and no room in Texan bars for another “chick singer.” She was too ‘rock’n’roll’ for country in Nashville and too ‘country’ for rock n roll in LA. She was really a unique hybrid alt country rock singer with elements of grunge. Anyway after releasing 4 albums between 1979 to 1992 with moderate to decent reviews she finally struck Gold in 1998 with ‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’.

What I love about Williams is her unique gravelly voice. Her first song Right in Time has an interesting mix of layered guitars and is a pleasant sounding pop country track. The next is the title track which is much more energetic sounding with strong elements of rock. I love 2 kool 2 be 4-gotten which starts off with a rhythmic drum shuffle before the guitars kick in along with an accordion accompaniment in the background. Drunken Angel is a strong lyrical statement on Americana, a great alt country song. Concrete and Barbed wire reverts to an acoustic country waltz. The strong bassy sounding Lake Charles is another great track with a story. I also like the Mississippi delta blues sound of Can’t let go with the catchy percussion beat and slide guitars on top. The second half of the album has an array of quality songs including an emotional country ballad Greenville which features Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals as well.

This was her first Gold album and it won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. The follow through for her was tours with legends like Dylan, Allman Brothers and Tom Petty in support of this great album.

A highly recommended listen for country and rock fans. And if you guys enjoy her music, check out her 2005 release Live@The Fillmore, another brilliant album.

Release Date: 30th June, 1998

Duration: 51:40

Genre: Alternative Country-Rock

Label : Mercury

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Anil Sukhia

Anil grew up in the 60s, listening from the tender age of 9 to the music of the Rolling Stones (Aftermath) and the Beatles (Abbey Road) with dollops of Chris Barber, Nat King Cole, Pat Boone and Eartha Kitt thrown in the mix on his father's (another major music buff) cassette player .He's been a diehard muzak addict ever since, with taste ranging from rock and blues to jazz. He currently has a collection of around 1000 CDs. He also restarted collecting vinyls in 2017 and has now become a serial collector with 300 odd vinyls’ already in the house. On holidays you might find him crate digging for rare vinyls in the alleys of Dubai, Delhi, Istanbul, Moscow or Berkeley.