Watch the performance video for the first single to be taken from it below.
Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams has announced details of a new album dealing with America’s socio-political chaos head-on, “World’s Gone Wrong”, which is due out January 23rd via Highway 20 Records. The new record is described as a “raw and unapologetic set of songs that were written and recorded with a sense of urgency during the spring of 2025… a wake-up call and a battle cry, finding beauty, grit, and grace in a world on edge.” The album opens with the powerful title track featuring Brittney Spencer which speaks to the plight of the working class during these turbulent times, and the resiliency to move forward with the underlying plea of “come on baby we gotta stay strong” in the chorus.
The nine original tracks on the new album include a timely cover of Bob Marley’s ‘So Much Trouble In The World’ in the form of a duet with the incomparable Mavis Staples. The bluesy ‘How Much Did You Get For Your Soul’ revisits the spiritual reckoning of Williams’ celebrated 2020 release “Good Souls Better Angel” while ‘Freedom Speaks’ is a soul-stirring anthem that personifies liberty as a voice rising against oppression and apathy warning us of the dangers of complacency in the face of injustice.
The album closes with the moving ‘We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around,’ featuring Norah Jones on piano and harmony vocals. The hymn-like track is rooted in struggle and redemption while acknowledging the challenge to maintain the fortitude and spiritual conviction needed when turning back is not an option.
“World’s Gone Wrong” was co-produced by Tom Overby and longtime Williams’ collaborator Ray Kennedy, who recorded and mixed the album at his Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN.
In the meantime, Lucinda returns to the UK and Ireland for a run of dates in 2026. Kicking off at the 3Olympia Theater in Ireland on January 26th, the tour will see Lucinda back at London’s Barbican on Tuesday February 3rd. Tickets are available from this link.
