Product Description

Williams's fans waited a long six years for this album, as Lucinda went through music business hassles and a revolving door of producers. The reward for their patience is an albumfull of rootsy, heartfelt observations that alternately rock and mourn. CAR WHEELS is full of songs about loss and longing, like "Metal Firecracker", "Drunken Angel" and "I Lost It", but even when she's bemoaning her own lack of happiness on the bluesy "Joy", she lets loose with so much passion that it seems inevitable she'll find her emotional centre again.
Produced largely by Steve Earle, CAR WHEELS is immersedin that late-'90s alt-country sound, full of slide guitar, accordion, dobro and other Americana touches. It's a tributeto Williams's unique artistic vision that she distinguishesherself from the No Depression crowd by virtue of her idiosyncratic songwriting. Full of lust, sadness and the occasional glimmer of hope, CAR WHEELS is one small step for LucindaWilliams and one giant leap for those tuned into her wavelength.

Track Listing

1. Right In Time
2. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
3. 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
4. Drunken Angel
5. Concrete And Barbed Wire
6. Lake Charles
7. Can't Let Go
8. I Lost It
9. Metal Firecracker
10. Greenville
11. Still I Long For Your Kiss
12. Joy
13. Jackson

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4444 in Music
• Released on: 2000-12-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 52 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Lucinda Williams makes this whole music thing seem so simple: Write in plain language about the people and places that crowd your memory; add subtle flavors of a mandolin here, a Dobro there, perhaps an accordion or slide guitar; above all, sing as honestly and naturally as you can. Of course, it took her six years to achieve this simplicity, an amazing achievement considering the number of knobs that were turned. Her exquisite voice moans and groans and slips and slides--she delivers a polished tone in a coarse manner. On the superb "Concrete and Barbed Wire", soft acoustic guitars are punctuated by electric slide, accordion, mandolin, and Steve Earle's harmony. Williams's deeply personal stories are matched with bluesy rumbles, raunchy grooves, and plaintive whispers. The entire Deep South is reduced to a sleepy small town filled with ex-lovers, dive bars, and endless gravel roads. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Outstanding - on a par with Pet Sounds
I'm new to this genre and I have got into Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson and although I don't buy his political persuasion, Toby Keith.
I bought West and wasn't impressed but Car Wheels is something else. Maybe because I'm new to this brand of music I'm suckered but I really think that this is such a stand out CD that it merits huge praise. I've heard that it was a perfectionist effort - hence the Pet Sounds analogy - and if so it works. Right in Time and Joy -two very different pices are addictive. Maybe this is a one-off in which case play it to death.

Can't hear what the fuss is about. Really
Pleasant, but very far from exceptional. Played the CD a few times before selling it on. No stand-out tracks for me at all. All pretty bland. But then again, it is possible that I'm not fully in tune with this type of music. I'm still left with the impression that this is the end result of marketing over mediocrity though.

She brought back my Joy
I am absolutely new to Lucinda Williams after discovering her through a great cover of JOY by Betty Lavette.
Went out and bought this album. I have to say it is a classic - there are just no weak tracks - no filler - anywhere. I listen to all sorts of music - on playlist at the moment is Mercury Rev, Tool and Rufus Wainwright. Varied I think you would agree - Lucinda Williams' talent stands up to all of them.
My only dilemma is which of her albums to get next. The songwriting, singing and musicianship are top class.
I see there are a couple of reviewers who don't get this album - all I can say is I feel sorry for them.
Perhaps its being a bloke but that edgy drawl in Lucinda's voice just does me in. Move over Hank Williams there's a new kid on the block.