Lucinda Williams: Sings The Beatles from Abbey Road
During the pandemic, Lucinda Williams kept busy, and kept her fans sated, by creating a series of cover collections she called Lu’s Jukebox. The first found the usually prolific singer-songwriter interpreting the music of Tom Petty. Other volumes went from country tunes to Christmas favorites, Dylan to Southern soul, and, finally, The Rolling Stones. Then, in late 2020, Williams had a stroke and everything was on hold. As life returned to a semblance of normality, Williams assumed she was done with her side trip. She concentrated on her recovery and eventually returned to touring, including a European leg in early 2024. That’s when the idea came up—as long as she was going to be in London, why not book some recording time at Abbey Road, the studio where The Beatles recorded, and make a new Lu’s Jukebox, consisting of Beatles covers? It took a little negotiating, but now, here it is, and what a treat it is. Williams, with producer/ engineer Ray Kennedy pushing knobs in the famous control room, takes naturally to a dozen Fabs tunes, from the biggest hits (“Something,” “Can’t Buy Me Love”) to other, lesser-known cuts (wait, are any Beatles songs lesser known?). The collection kicks in with “Don’t Let Me Down,” the John Lennon vehicle from the 1969 Let It Be sessions. With her Louisiana background, Williams gives the song just the right amount of drawl, sticking largely to the original arrangement, a tactic she continues to implement throughout. It works to perfection on similarly raw songs like “Yer Blues,” but it’s the more surprising entries, like the 1966 single B-side “Rain” and Rubber Soul’s “I’m Looking Through You,” where Williams truly shines, wrapping her instantly identifiable voice around more pop-oriented material that one might not initially expect her to gravitate toward. Here’s hoping that there will be more of these sessions in the future.
