New Recordings: Lucinda Williams; Ryan Adams; and Jhené Aiko

Lucinda Williams

Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone

(Lost Highway ***)

nolead ends Most double albums these days - like Arcade Fire's Reflektor or Tweedy's Sukierae - could easily get away with being singles, and are broken into two for aesthetic reasons rather than a need to find room for all the music. That's not the case with Lucinda Williams' 11th record. It's a 103-minute doozy, a protean display by the 61-year-old Southern country-soul-blues woman. It opens with "Compassion," a poem by her father, Miller Williams, set to music, and closes with a gorgeous cover of J.J. Cale's "Magnolia," with 18 sorrowful, defiant Lucinda originals in between. At times, Williams' predilection for hanging on the sad side of town can be wearying ("You think you got problems, you don't know the half of it," she sings), and she has a tendency to brandish her capacity for empathy like a badge of honor. But on the whole, this is an impressive return to form that takes a full measure of joy and heartache, and bucks up the spirit with hard-fought, shimmering songs like "When I Look at the World" and "One More Day" that can stand with the best work of her career.

- Dan DeLuca

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nolead ends nolead begins Ryan Adams
nolead ends nolead begins (PAX-AM/Blue Note ***)

nolead ends Since his classic work in the alt-country band Whiskeytown in the mid-'90s, Ryan Adams has been a mercurial and volatile artist, unpredictable and prolific. Often too prolific - as if he were more interested in sharing every whim and rough draft than in crafting lasting work. This self-titled album is his first since 2011's Ashes & Fire. In the interim, he scrapped one album, produced records for Fall-Out Boy, Jenny Lewis, and Ethan Johns, and released a handful of other songs. This one plays to Adams' considerable strengths.

As seems inevitable for Adams, a few songs (the repetitive "Stay With Me," for instance) seem underdeveloped, but the album, produced by Adams and Mike Viola, sounds gorgeous, with impressive guitarwork and judicious keyboards (from Benmont Tench) throughout. It's filled with imagery of encroaching darkness and emotionally charged love affairs, and it has echoes of Adams' best work - 2000's Heartbreaker and 2001's Gold - in its raw, Stonesy rock and lovelorn acoustic ballads.

- Steve Klinge

nolead ends Jhené Aiko of Los Angeles is part of that new breed of "girl singer" who gets her first acclaim making boy rappers look good and sound better (think Skylar Grey with Eminem and Lupe Fiasco) but whose songwriting chops are as formidable as her voice. Aiko's hip-hop duets are stellar: She's added her sultry, Aaliyah-like voice to hits for Drake, Big Sean, and Childish Gambino. Her own 2013 EP, Sail Out, features top MCs Vince Staples, Kendrick Lamar, and Ab-Soul.

For Souled Out, her debut full-length album, however, Aiko smartly uses few guests (Common, Cocaine 80s), preferring to present her own aesthetic touched, but not defined by, hip-hop. "To Love & Die" and "Spotless Mind" are atmospheric, hypnotic R&B tunes; acoustic guitar strokes create a surprisingly gentle accompaniment to lyrics that speak of getting away. For a singer who has spent so much of her career (so far) getting in your face, these tunes, as well as the paean "Promises," show off Aiko's tender side. "Lying King" may throb, and "The Pressure" may lean deeply into hip-hop, but it's the softer side that defines Souled Out.

- A.D. Amorosi

Lady Antebellum, 747;

Herb Alpert, In the Mood;

Blake Shelton, Bringing Back the Sunshine;

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

This Week                  Last Week

Locally   Nationally   Locally

1   1   Barbara Streisand Partners   -

2   2   Chris Brown X   -

3   3   Tim McGraw Sundown Heaven Town    -

4   5   Train Bulletproof Picasso    -

5   7   Maroon 5 V   1

6   6   OneRepublic Native    -

7   10   Slash, featuring Myles Ke    World on Fire   -

8   14   Jeezy Seen It All   4

9   9   Motionless in White Reincarnate    -

10   15   Jhené Aiko Souled Out   2