World's Gone Wrong

At heart, Lucinda Williams is a blues singer. The blues isnt the sum total of her influences and passions, but its the backbone of her music, and never far from what she has to say. The blues is a music that speaks to the lives of ordinary people, their desires and their struggles, and so it makes sense that she would find herself compelled to write about the realities of American life in 2025, with politics carving a deepening divide between the American people and economic inequality widening the gulf between the haves and have-nots. Williams was working on a new album a few months into 2025 when a batch of socially conscious songs began cohering in her imagination, and she decided to instead make Worlds Gone Wrong, an album that appeared in January 2026 and sounds as timely as the mornings news broadcast. Theres a lot that Williams is upset about on Worlds Gone Wrong; more than anything, she sees a world where basic human dignity and fairness have been tossed aside, and those are the themes that dominate these songs. The opening cut, "The Worlds Gone Wrong," sets the stage with its story of two hard-working people just trying to make ends meet and make it to the end of the day, set to a backdrop of dirty guitars and R&B organ, and the simple relatability of the lyrics and the hard-edged compassion and frustration of Williams vocals turn it into the most human of broadsides. Stories like this dominate Worlds Gone Wrong, though "How Much Did You Get for Your Soul" is a pointed salvo at the people in power who made all this happen, and "Somethings Gotta Give" and "Weve Come Too Far to Turn Around" are full-bodied rallying cries to rise up against the forces of darkness. Williams co-wrote nine of the albums ten songs, the exception being a cover of Bob Marleys "So Much Trouble in the World" with guest vocals from Mavis Staples, who has been singing out against division and want for most of her 86 years. Williams band -- Doug Pettibone and Marc Ford on guitars, David Sutton on bass, Rob Burger on keyboards, and Brady Blade on drums -- play tough, lean, and passionate on these sessions, knowing just what kind of energy these songs demand, and producers Ray Kennedy and Tom Overby give the recordings a no-frills clarity that finds room for depth and just the right amount of atmosphere. If the songs occasionally betray their short gestation period, Williams sings them with all the conviction she can summon, and this presents some of her best vocal work in years. Worlds Gone Wrong is an album of its moment that addresses issues that have been with us for centuries, and like a good blues song, they never stop being timely -- and worth singing loud and clear, which is just what Williams does here. ~Mark Deming