Ever since her classic 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams has been getting more and more experimental with her sound, culminating in last year’s moody, ethereal West, which was about as far from the grounded alt-country of Car Wheels as possible. Williams’ latest, Little Honey, starts out sounding like a return to form, opening with the rollicking roots rocker “Real Love,” the most immediate and visceral song she’s recorded in years. From there it’s an album of mostly simple pleasures, mixed with occasional more ambitious, austere compositions.
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There’s little here that could really be called country, aside from “Jailhouse Tears,” a wonderful honky-tonkin’ duet with Elvis Costello that comes across as Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty with more swearing. “Honey Bee” is a Tom Petty-style stomper, “Tears of Joy” and “Well Well Well” are gritty, back-porch blues numbers, and the album closes with an unexpected but surprisingly effective take on AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top.” When Williams sings “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll,” she sounds less like an arena-rock braggart than someone wearily imparting hard-won wisdom.
Not everything is as striking or as successful; the spacey “Little Rock Star” doesn’t really go anywhere, “Knowing” and “Heaven Blues” are flat and aimless, and the nearly nine-minute dirge “Rarity” is reminiscent of West’s worst experimental excesses. But the overall feeling is one of excitement and renewal, putting Williams back on the path that’s led to her most satisfying music.
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