Essence (Lucinda Williams album)
2001 studio album by Lucinda Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Essence is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 5, 2001, by Lost Highway Records.[3] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 28, selling approximately 44,500 copies in its first week.[4] By 2008, it had sold 336,000 copies in the U.S.[5]
| Essence | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 5, 2001 | |||
| Genres | ||||
| Length | 50:58 | |||
| Label | Lost Highway | |||
| Producers |
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| Lucinda Williams chronology | ||||
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A critical and commercial success, the album earned Williams three Grammy Award nominations in 2002: Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the track "Get Right With God", which she won.[6]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Blender | [8] |
| Chicago Sun-Times | [2] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | A−[9] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[10] |
| Los Angeles Times | [1] |
| Q | [11] |
| Rolling Stone |  [12] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
| Spin | 8/10[14] |
Essence was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 11 reviews.[3] Reviewers observed a departure from Williams' similarly acclaimed 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, with Rolling Stone citing the "willful intimacy" in Essence's music[12] and Spin contrasting the "halting, spare" presentation with its predecessor's "giddy, verbose" one.[14] AllMusic similarly stated "those hoping for another dose of the bluesy roots rock of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road may be disappointed, but if you want to take a deep and compelling look into the heart and soul of a major artist, then you owe it to yourself to hear Essence.[7]
The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau found it "imperfect" but still praised Williams' artistry, saying "[she] is too damn good to deny."[9] Salon regarded the album as "an emotional mess of a masterpiece".[15] Entertainment Weekly wrote "Lucinda Williams doesn’t merely wallow in suffering. She savors it like a glass of your finest Bordeaux", and called it her "folkiest, gentlest album" and "a steamy slow-crawl — southern humidity as music — that plays into her strengths as the Joan of Dark of the alt-country set".[10] Q listed Essence as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[16]
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Folk Album | Essence | Nominated | [6] |
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "Essence" | Nominated | |||
| Best Female Rock Vocal Performance | "Get Right With God" | Won |
Track listing
All tracks written by Lucinda Williams.[17]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lonely Girls" | 4:01 |
| 2. | "Steal Your Love" | 3:14 |
| 3. | "I Envy the Wind" | 3:12 |
| 4. | "Blue" | 3:52 |
| 5. | "Out of Touch" | 5:25 |
| 6. | "Are You Down" | 5:24 |
| 7. | "Essence" | 5:50 |
| 8. | "Reason to Cry" | 3:39 |
| 9. | "Get Right with God" | 4:16 |
| 10. | "Bus to Baton Rouge" | 5:50 |
| 11. | "Broken Butterflies" | 5:41 |
| Total length: | 50:58 | |
Personnel
- Lucinda Williams – vocals, acoustic guitar
- Jim Keltner – drums
- Tony Garnier – bass, acoustic guitar
- Bo Ramsey – electric guitar
- Charlie Sexton – drums, hand drum, rhythm guitar, Hammond B3 organ, piano, background vocals, tremolo slide guitar
- Reese Wynans – Hammond B3 organ
- Jim Lauderdale – harmony vocals
Additional musicians:
- David Mansfield – viola
- Ryan Adams – tremolo guitar ("Essence")
- Gary Louris – background vocals ("Essence")
- Joy Lynn White – background vocals ("Get Right With God", "Bus to Baton Rouge", "Broken Butterflies")