Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone

Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is Lucinda Williams' eleventh studio album. The double album was released on September 30, 2014. It is the first album on Williams' own Highway 20 Records label.[1] The song "Compassion," from which the album title is derived, is based on a poem by her father, Miller Williams. It won the Americana Music Award for Album of the Year.

Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
Studio album by Lucinda Williams
Released	September 30, 2014 (2014-09-30)
Recorded	2014
Genre	Americana, folk rock, alternative country, heartland rock
Length	103:05
Label	Highway 20 Records
Lucinda Williams chronology
Blessed (2011) Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014) The Ghosts of Highway 20 (2016)

In 2017, the song "When I Look at the World" was covered by Kaitlin Doubleday as her character Jessie Caine on season five of the TV series Nashville.

Reception

Critical

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.0/10[2]
Metacritic	83/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[4]
Cuepoint (Expert Witness)	B+[5]
The Daily Telegraph	[6]
The Independent	[7]
The Irish Times	[8]
Mojo	[9]
Q	[10]
Record Collector	[11]
Uncut	8/10[12]

The album received acclaim from music critics. "[T]hough this doesn't always sound like an album where Williams is challenging herself musically, for a musician who has long believed in the power of nuance, this is an album that feels unerringly right for her, full of sweet and sour blues, acoustic pondering, and simple, bare bones rock & roll that slips into the groove with Williams' literate but unpretentious songs," writes Mark Deming at AllMusic.[1] The New York Times says, "On past albums Ms. Williams has portrayed herself at moments of rage, excess and grief; now she prefers stability. Her songs are fully aware of wounds and pitfalls, but they’re more likely to be looking back or looking outward."[13] Tom Moon writes at NPR, "She's always been able to conjure brokenhearted misery from a single note; now, she can ramp up to fury that quickly, too. And resignation. And let's face it: In terms of pure expression, no singer in popular music can touch Williams when she's calling from the lonely outskirts of Despairville. She sounds like it's her permanent residence, that place down deep where the spirit meets the bone."[14]

Commercial

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 13 on its release.[15] It also debuted at No. 1 on the Folk Albums and No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums charts, with 20,000 copies sold for the week.[16] The album has sold 92,000 copies in the US as of January 2016.[17]

Guest appearances

Guest appearances on the album include harmony vocals by Jakob Dylan on the song "It's Gonna Rain," guitar by Tony Joe White on two songs, and keyboards by Ian McLagan on five songs. Elvis Costello's backing group plays on a few songs with Stuart Mathis of The Wallflowers. Bill Frisell plays guitar on two songs.[18]

Track listing

Disc 1

All tracks are written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Compassion" (Words by Miller Williams, music and additional words by Lucinda Williams)	Miller Williams, Lucinda Williams	Lucinda Williams	2:57
2.	"Protection"			4:47
3.	"Burning Bridges"			4:49
4.	"East Side of Town"			4:56
5.	"West Memphis"			5:44
6.	"Cold Day in Hell"			5:16
7.	"Foolishness"			5:57
8.	"Wrong Number"			5:01
9.	"Stand Right by Each Other"			3:58
10.	"It's Gonna Rain"			4:18
Total length:				47:48

Disc 2

All tracks are written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Something Wicked This Way Comes"		5:45
2.	"Big Mess"		5:32
3.	"When I Look at the World"		4:56
4.	"Walk On"		4:11
5.	"Temporary Nature (Of Any Precious Thing)"		5:05
6.	"Everything But the Truth"		5:11
7.	"This Old Heartache"		5:03
8.	"Stowaway in Your Heart"		3:27
9.	"One More Day"		6:21
10.	"Magnolia" (Written by JJ Cale)	JJ Cale	9:51
Total length:			55:27

Personnel

• Lucinda Williams – Vocals, acoustic guitar
• Tony Joe White – Electric guitar, harmonica
• Greg Leisz – Acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel guitar, backing vocals
• Val McCallum – Electric guitar
• Stuart Mathis – Electric guitar
• Jonathan Wilson – Guitar
• Patrick Warren – Chamberlin, organ, piano, pump organ, autoharp, keyboards
• Ian "Mac" McLagan – Wurlitzer, piano
• Davey Faragher – Bass
• Pete Thomas – Drums and percussion
• Gia Ciambotti – Backing vocals
• Doug Pettibone – Electric guitar, backing vocals

Additional Musicians:

• Jakob Dylan – Harmony vocals
• Bill Frisell – Electric guitar
• Bob Glaub – Bass
• Sebastian Steinberg – Bass
• David Sutton – Bass
• David Ralicke – Saxophone, euphonium
• Jordan Katz – Trumpet
• Butch Norton – Drums

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
scope="row"	Australian Albums (ARIA)[19]	32
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20]	45
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21]	129
scope="row"	Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[22]	11
scope="row"	German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23]	77
scope="row"	Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24]	20
scope="row"	Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25]	58
scope="row"	Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26]	94
scope="row"	UK Albums (OCC)[27]	23
scope="row"	US Billboard 200[28]	13

References

1. Deming, Mark. "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone – Lucinda Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
2. "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone by Lucinda Williams reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
3. "Reviews for Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone by Lucinda Williams". Metacritic. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
4. Kot, Greg (September 29, 2014). "Lucinda Williams gets political, and takes it personally, on latest". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
5. Christgau, Robert (November 28, 2014). "Robert Christgau: Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
6. McCormick, Neil (October 2, 2014). "Lucinda Williams, Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone, review: 'a late career peak'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
7. Gill, Andy (September 26, 2014). "Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, album review: This is a magnificent, career-defining piece of work". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
8. Breen, Joe (October 17, 2014). "Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". The Irish Times. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
9. "Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Mojo (252): 93. November 2014.
10. "Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Q (340): 119. November 2014.
11. Atkins, Jamie (October 2014). "Lucinda Williams – Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone". Record Collector (432). Retrieved May 24, 2019.
12. Torn, Luke (November 4, 2014). "Lucinda Williams – Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone". Uncut. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
13. "Twangy Homilies About Shouldering Through the Pain: New Albums from Lucinda Williams and Christopher Owens New York Times, September 29, 2014.
14. Moon, Tom. "First Listen: Lucinda Williams, 'Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone'" National Public Radio, September 21, 2014.
15. "Lucinda Williams Revels In Creative Freedom: 'I'm An Optimist'". Associated Press via Billboard. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
16. Emily White (October 10, 2014). "Lucinda Williams Tops Folk Albums Chart, U2 Hits Alternative Songs Milestone". Billboard.
17. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016.
18. Dregni, Michael (December 2014). "Exile on a Gravel Road". Vintage Guitar. p. 138.
19. "Australiancharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
20. "Ultratop.be – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
21. "Ultratop.be – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
22. "Danishcharts.dk – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
23. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
24. "Norwegiancharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
25. "Swedishcharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
26. "Swisscharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
27. "Lucinda Williams | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
28. "Lucinda Williams Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 11, 2014.