“Righteously” by Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams wrote "Righteously" herself, and in 2003 it became the opening single from World Without Tears, the seventh album of her career; she co-produced it with Mark Howard, who also engineered and mixed it. It's addressed to a lover, telling him he doesn't have to play it cool and distant to prove he's a man, and the sound matches the grit: AllMusic heard pure rock in its muck and six-string squall, capped by Doug Pettibone's overdriven solo, which nods to both Duane Allman and Jimi Hendrix near the end.

The Los Angeles Times' Robert Hilburn heard lyrics about searching for shelter in a stormy relationship, with fiery guitar driving home the desperation. It earned Williams a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2004, and The Boot placed it seventh among her best songs.

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