Reviews:

Audio Mixer: Eric Liljestrand.
Arrangers: Eric Liljestrand; Bruce Fowler.
WEST, from 2007, was one of Lucinda Williams' most personal and dark albums, a heartbroken meditation, mostly about the recent death of her mother. In years past, Williams likely would have retreated following such a major statement: in the first two decades of her career, spaces of nearly five years between albums weren't unheard of. Instead, the Louisiana-bred singer-songwriter knuckled down and recorded the exuberant LITTLE HONEY, perhaps her sunniest and most gleefully rocking album ever. Kicking off with the stomping, sexy single "Real Love," this is Williams in the rollicking "Passionate Kisses" side of her musical personality. Her lyrics are as sharp as ever, particularly on the wry ballad "If Wishes Were Horses" and the Elvis Costello duet, "Jailhouse Tears." Other guests include Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, whose Buckingham-Nicks harmonies decorate several tunes, adding to the album's sunny and poppy vibe.

Personnel: Lucinda Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Elvis Costello (vocals); Doug Pettibone (acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, electric 6-string guitar, electric 12-string guitar, electric slide guitar, dobro, background vocals); Chet Lyster (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, musical saw); David Sutton (guitarron, cello, double bass, electric bass); Butch Norton (bullroarer, chang, drums, congas, cymbals, finger cymbals, maracas, rainsticks, tambourine, bell); Rob Burger (accordion, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond b-3 organ, pump organ, Wurlitzer organ, Mellotron, vibraphone); Albert Wing (tenor saxophone); Walt Fowler (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bruce Fowler (trombone); Jim Lauderdale, Kristin Mooney, Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs, Susan Marshall, Gia Ciambotti, Charlie Louvin (background vocals).

Lucinda Williams has always been adept at painting landscapes of the soul,
illuminating the spirit's shadowy nooks and shimmering crannies -- but
she's never captured the sun breaking through the clouds as purely as on
her new Lost Highway release, Little Honey.  The follow up to the
critically acclaimed West, feature track "Real Love" is already at radio.
The album features a duet with Elvis Costello "Jailhouse Tears".  Other
guest vocalists include Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs, Jim Lauderdale, Tim
Easton, and Charlie Louvin.