On November 17, 2020,
Lucinda Williams
suffered a stroke that left many of her fans worrying about the future of one of America's best and most fearless songwriters. It didn't take long for
Williams
to regain her ability to sing, and the six albums in her Lu's Jukebox series (intended to benefit artists and venues who lost their income during the COVID-19 pandemic) proved she was still in fine form as a performer. However, they were all devoted to covers, leaving open the question of her relationship with her songwriting muse. 2023's
Stories from a Rock 'n' Roll Heart
is her first album of original material since her recovery, and comes two months after the publication of her memoirs, Don't Tell Anyone the Secrets I Told You.
co-produced
in tandem with engineer
Ray Kennedy
and
' husband and frequent studio collaborator
Tom Overby
, and
Overby
also co-wrote these ten songs with
; most of the tracks also include contributions from
Jesse Malin
and/or
Travis Stephens
. Thematically, these songs don't always find
at her most inspired; "Let's Get the Band Back Together," "Rock 'n' Roll Heart," and "Never Gonna Fade Away" are exactly what you expect them to be from the titles, and coming from one of America's most perceptive lyricists, they're frankly disappointing. "Jukebox" is a well-executed character study but it's built from familiar materials, and "New York Comeback" is a tale where the parts don't fully come together (and
Bruce Springsteen
's overwrought backing vocals on the latter don't help). All that said, the songs that do work, work very well, and "Stolen Moments," "This Is Not My Town," and "Last Call for the Truth" are soulful and evocative tales of bruised emotions and lives out of balance, and "Hum's Liquor" is a heartbreaking narrative based on the last years of
the Replacements
'
Bob Stinson
. (Adding to its impact are the backing vocals from his half-brother,
Tommy Stinson
.) Even when the songwriting is below
' average, her vocals are still a wondrous mix of toughness and fragility, and the album sounds great, with a superb studio band (including guitarists
Stuart Mathis
Doug Pettibone
and drummer
Steve Ferrone
) generating the right blend of rock & roll swagger and bluesy loneliness, all captured with warm clarity by
's engineering.
isn't the triumphant return some might have hoped for, but for its flaws, it shows
hasn't lost her spark or her determination to create. This may not be a great album, but it suggests she has it in her to make another great one somewhere down the line. ~ Mark Deming