Three-time Grammy winner Lucinda Williams isn’t pulling any punches on her forthcoming album, World’s Gone Wrong – out January 23rd via Highway 20 Records / Thirty Tigers. Written and recorded in the spring of 2025, the record captures Williams raging against America’s fractured soul with a mix of grit, grace, and gospel fire.
The title track sets the tone: a raw, blues-driven anthem featuring Brittney Spencer, where Williams gives voice to the working class and the fight to stay hopeful — her plea of “come on baby we gotta stay strong” landing like both comfort and command.
Across nine original songs, Williams takes stock of a country in turmoil and demands resilience in return. Her cover of Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble in the World,” a searing duet with Mavis Staples, feels less like homage and more like prophecy. Elsewhere, the swampy “How Much Did You Get For Your Soul” revisits the moral reckoning of 2020’s Good Souls Better Angels, while “Freedom Speaks” gives liberty a voice — and a warning against complacency.
The album’s closing track, “We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around,” featuring Norah Jones on piano and harmony vocals, ends the record on a hymn-like note of endurance and grace. The two voices intertwine with haunting beauty, embodying the album’s hard-won faith.
Co-produced by Tom Overby and longtime collaborator Ray Kennedy at Nashville’s Room & Board Studio, World’s Gone Wrong is both a cry of anguish and a call to arms — a reminder that few artists stare down America’s shadows with as much heart, soul, and stubborn hope as Lucinda Williams.
Listen to the title track in a performance video below: