Lucinda Williams is still one of the great American mavericks. Back in the late 80s, she brought a new rock following to country music when she signed to Rough Trade and helped to launch that hybrid genre, Americana. Her new set mixes country influences with gospel and blues, and is notable both for the strength of her highly personal songwriting, her weathered, slurred and defiant vocals, and the inventive arrangements, featuring atmospheric, brooding guitar textures from Greg Leisz and the ever-adventurous Bill Frisell. Williams was born in Louisiana, and the title track refers to the Texas-Florida Interstate that runs through it as a highway of “run-down motels, faded billboards”. There are stories of religion, guilt and loss, matched against a bittersweet, adult love song, Close the Door on Love, and a bleak treatment of Bruce Springsteen’s Factory that perfectly fits the mood of this intimate, pained and powerful set.
