By Ken Paulson
Lee Ann Womack has been enthusiastically embraced by the Americana music community and with good reason. 2014’s “The Way I’m Livin'” and her new album “The Lonely, Lonesome & The Gone” were of a kind with her debut hit “Never Again Again.” She really just came home to the genre.
As suggested by the title and the weary cover image, the new collection has its share of sadness and struggles. “Old songs make it sound so cool/to be a half-drunk heartbroke fool/But when the fool is you, it’s not,” she sings on the title track co-written with Adam Wright.
That collaboration is a rich one, with Womack and/or Wright and sometimes others) penning six of the album’s cuts, including the comparatively upbeat “End of the End of the World.”
The album also features a chlling take on the timeless “Long Black Veil” and a cover of George Jones’ “Take the Devil Out of Me.”
“The Lonely, Lonesome & The Gone” has two elements that run throughout the album: Womack’s compelling delivery and powerful songwriting. It’s among her best.
