Sweet Old World by Lucinda Williams

Sweet Old World, Lucinda Williams' fourth album, came out on Chameleon on August 25, 1992, four years after the self-titled record that made the critics sit up. She produced it again with Dusty Wakeman and Gurf Morlix, the same trio behind that breakthrough, and it's roots rock with dust on its boots and a lump in its throat: guitars that ache more than they rock, and that voice, cracked and unhurried, taking its time over every line.

The critics swooned all over again. It placed 11th in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll for 1992, Robert Christgau had it 6th on his own list, and it still ranks among her best-reviewed records. Emmylou Harris took the title song for her Wrecking Ball album in 1995, and in 2017 Williams went back and re-recorded the whole thing as This Sweet Old World.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.