(Photo: Courtesy of Alan Messer/Lost Highway)

West
Lucinda Williams
The alt-country titan adds some new musical twists (including appearances from jazz guitarist Bill Frisell) to her typically reflective stories of hard living in the South.

PETER: The lyrics here tell more of a first-person story than Lucinda Williams albums usually do, mourning the death of her mother and eulogizing a fouled relationship. It’s a testament to Williams’s skill as a writer and the musical inventiveness of her band that such non-uplifting material is so engrossing.
Rating: 9
Best Track: "Fancy Funeral"

JOS: My exposure to country music is pretty much limited to what has accidentally leaked through to me in Wilco and Bright Eyes. While I register the suffering in her voice, I would need to hear a bit more effort (at least a little emo-scream every now and then) to actually be moved by it. I know what this album is supposed to make me feel, but I don’t feel it.
Rating: 4
Best Track: "Unsuffer Me"

SARAH: It’s not my kind of music, but Lucinda’s beautifully raspy voice is mesmerizing. “This is music you can just be with,” one of the kids says, and—for once—everyone just nods quietly.
Rating: 6
Best Track: "Everything Has Changed"