Lucinda Williams: Blessed

(lost highway)

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Lucinda Williams has delivered “some of the most gut-wrenching love songs of the past 30 years,” said James Reed in The Boston Globe. But in 2009, the then-56-year-old songwriter married her manager, v, on stage, and while fans rejoiced, they also wondered how their heroine of heartache would change. It turns out married life suits Williams quite well. Her 10th album “unfurls with sage wisdom that has come with age.” Williams will always know how to mend a broken heart, but she has “achieved something new—a balance,” said Elena See in NPR.org. There is a kiss-off song or two, but Blessed finds Williams writing from more of an observational place. She contemplates war on “Soldiers Song” and struggles to understand another singer’s choice of death over life on “Seeing Black.” On “Born to Be Loved,” she reassuringly sings “You weren’t born for nothing / You were born to be loved.” “Looking at life in a new light,” Williams casts a warm, “surprisingly optimistic” glow.