Product Key Features
Release Year1998
FeaturesStudio Recording
GenrePop, Alternative, Rock, Folk, Country
StyleAmericana, Contemporary Folk
TypeAlbum
ArtistLucinda Williams
Release TitleCar Wheels on a Gravel Road
Additional Product Features
Number of Discs1
DistributionUniversal Distribution
Guest ArtistBuddy Miller, Steve Earle, Charlie Sexton, Emmylou Harris, Ray Kennedy, Roy Bittan, Jim Lauderdale
Number of Tracks13
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States
GuitarBuddy Miller, Steve Earle, John Ciambotti, Lucinda Williams, Gurf Morlix, Charlie Sexton, Bo Ramsey, Johnny Lee Schell
MixingJim Scott, Ray Kennedy, Rick Rubin
ReviewsIncluded in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's.", 4 Stars Out of 5 -- "Her Voice Has Never Sounded Quite So Strong, Pure and Tormented...", 4.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...Not only is CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD more perfect than the two albums that preceded it...but it achieves its perfection by being more imperfect....not since the openhearted HAPPY WOMAN BLUES has she gotten so much feeling on tape...", Ranked #31 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "A bluesy, rootsy album, its fatalistic pull resonating with anyone who has loved and lost.", "...Williams has rarely sounded better. And when her voice meets a first-rate song (and some accordions and Dobros), few country-folkies more acutely evoke the elementary highs and lows of daily life..." - Rating: A-, "...Though the record is replete with stinging melodies, sturdy song structures and rustic, barroom vocal passion, its greatest asset is Williams' stirring lyrics...", "'Drunken Angel' and 'Can't Let Go' stand out as examples of the rawness of CAR WHEELS intensified as Williams delivers its heartbreak and tumult onstage.", 5 stars out of 5 -- "An amazing record that sounds like it was casually banged out in a particularly creative weekend. It's steeped in Southern life...", Ranked #61 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s.", "Repositioning country-blues roots rock as contemporary Southern art, the album gives us a sense of life and place that leap from every line and guitar lick.", Ranked # 10in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: the 50 Essential Albums"-"...It Rocks...", Included in A.P.'s "10 Essential Alt-Country Albums" - "...Too diverse for country, too country to be rock - whatever this is, we need more of it.", Ranked #4 on Spin's List of "Top 20 Albums of '98."
EngineerEd Thacker, Roy Bittan, Steve Churchyard
VocalsLucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Jim Lauderdale
PercussionDonald Lindley
DrumsDonald Lindley
Number of Audio ChannelsStereo