The All-TIME 100 Albums: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams

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The All-TIME 100 Albums

12 of 101

By Josh Tyrangiel Published: November 13, 2006

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ALBUM: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

YEAR RELEASED: 1998 LABEL: Universal ARTIST: Lucinda Williams

TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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These up-from-Dixie tunes flow so easily, like conversations over a low backyard fence, that it's hard to believe Williams spent six years obsessing over each chord and syllable. On "Can't Let Go," "I Lost It" she starts with evocative nouns and everyday thoughts ("We put on ZZ Top, and turn 'em up real loud/ I used to think you were strong, I used to think you were proud") and dramatizes them with indelible country and rock guitar hooks to create a sense of the modern rural South as a place that's sometimes sad, but always seductive.