Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/jxpPL_aY190

Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon
Loretta's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon
Car wheels on a gravel road

Can't find a damn thing in this place
Nothing's where I left it before
Set of keys and a dusty suitcase
Car wheels on a gravel road

There goes the screen door slamming shut
You better do what you're told
When I get back, this room better be picked up
Car wheels on a gravel road

~  Lucinda Williams

Lucinda's breakthrough 1998 album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, took five years to make, partially due to her perfectionism and some conflicts with the people helping her record it, including Steve Earle. But the result was worth the wait, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. It won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album as well as other important accolades.

Lucinda, daughter of poet Miller Williams (who read his poem "Of History and Hope" at Bill Clinton's inauguration), traveled often throughout the South when she was a child. Certainly that experience peppered her songwriting, as there are many references to locations in the South. Although "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" (the song) does not reference a particular location, the sights and sounds of a road trip are prominent. In fact, pay attention to all the sounds in the complete lyrics of the song. The screen door slamming, the tinny radio voices, the bacon sizzling, the parental threats, and of course, the car wheels on gravel all help to create a mood that allows us to enter the scene and experience it up close. The song is a feast for the senses, full of sound and smell and color. I find it so easy to place myself as a small child in the back seat of that old Buick and watch the telephone poles fly by. For me, the lyrics capture an innocence and a promise that I left behind long ago. I like being able to revisit that place.

The mood of the song is as slow and laid-back as Lucinda herself. Although it may take a few songs to become accustomed to Lucinda's twang, once there, you can fully appreciate an artist whose writing has the power to evoke nostalgia, heartache, and simple joy.

Child in the backseat about four or five years old
Lookin' out the window
Little bit of dirt mixed with tears
Car wheels on a gravel road