Leather jacket: check. Dark eyeliner: check. Keds with white laces: check. Black and white photo of the artist cradling their guitar like a lover while gazing defiantly into the camera: check.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll get to the music soon enough, but first, that cover. Lucinda Williams nails the iconography and attitude of rock in a way that can\u2019t be faked; while her normal style is Americana that leans to the country-folk side of things, she\u2019s also shown an affinity for the honky-tonk-styled blues-rock that she makes her primary focus here. There is nothing the least bit artificial or insincere about Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart<\/i>; it\u2019s clear that Lucinda Willians is a lifelong fan who means every word she sings on this album.<\/p>\n
It must also be said\u2014because good rock and roll is also honest rock and roll\u2014that Lucinda Williams is no spring chicken, and shows little interest in disguising the mileage on her odometer. At 71, her voice has a more pronounced quaver and less precise pitch than it once did. You could choose to view these developments as flaws, or you could choose to adopt the same attitude she seems to have, and say \u201cThis is a genuine record, recorded by a genuine artist, who\u2019s been around long enough not to take shit from anyone, and who ain\u2019t gonna use no goddamned auto-tune.\u201d Williams sings from the heart, giving everything she has to these songs, and this listener wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. <\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly for the woman Time<\/i> magazine named \u201cAmerica\u2019s best songwriter\u201d back in 2002, the strongest thing about the songs found on this album is Williams\u2019 lyrics, full of both celebrations of and ruminations on a hard life thoroughly lived.<\/p>\n
Nostalgic anthem \u201cLet\u2019s Get The Band Back Together\u201d kicks things off on an upbeat note as Reese Wynans of Double Trouble fame gives this nostalgic rocker a little Texas boogie strut and color with his Hammond organ and piano work. The track finds Williams singing \u201cPlaying Dylan and The Boss, man \/ We thought we were cool,\u201d providing the perfect setup for successor \u201cNew York Comeback,\u201d a pulsing, airy number that features The Boss himself and his wife Patti Scialfa on harmony vocals. The cool factor is simply undeniable. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen what happens when you stay too long\u201d sings Williams on the hard-nosed \u201cLast Call For The Truth.\u201d \u201cBut I guess I never got the memo \/ I always have to hear the last song\u2026 Give me one more taste of my lost youth \/ And it\u2019s last call for the truth.\u201d Oof. Next up, \u201cJukebox\u201d delivers a country-tinged ballad to loneliness, about a older person seeking solace at the neighborhood watering hole, sort of a honky-tonk Nighthawks<\/i><\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStolen Moments\u201d captures that open-road romantic feel of a classic Springsteen or Petty tune, with a nice drive and push. And then Williams proceeds to demolish any doubts you may still be clinging to about this endeavor with \u201cRock N Roll Heart.\u201d The opening verse feels almost clich\u00e9 because she\u2019s telling a familiar, iconic story using familiar, iconic language, but it all pays off at the chorus of this anthem about what rock\u2019n\u2019roll means to the people who make it. With Springsteen returning to deliver harmony vocals on said chorus, the song feels like nothing less than destiny. <\/p>\n