Pop Song 164 'Are you alright?' Lucinda Williams 2007

Pop Song 164 'Are you alright?' Lucinda Williams 2007

Williams is asking "Are You Alright?" to a loved one who has left her life, but has never left her thoughts. "I wrote this song with my brother in mind," she explained to the A.V. Club. "I haven't seen him or spoken to him in years, but I still adore him and love him and care about him. I reached out, but it's just one of those things. I've written at least three, maybe four songs with him in mind. This one, though, really grabs people. I had one girl in the audience sitting and crying like a baby when we played this, because she had a similar relationship with her own brother. There's so many different stories like that. We had this guy at one of our shows who was a Vietnam vet, and he sent a letter backstage explaining that he went to his buddy's grave who'd served in Vietnam with him, and this guy learned the song on guitar. He said, 'I worked that song up. I learned to play 'Are You Alright?' and went to my buddy's graveside and played the song for him.' For him, it took on a whole different meaning, and that's the beauty of it. Everybody has their own different stories that they'll connect to these songs, and it's really something special."

"Williams is nothing if not a purely confessional songwriter. She continually walks in the shadowlands to bring out what is both most personal yet universal in her work, to communicate to listeners directly and without compromise", and concluded that the album "will no doubt attract more than a few new fans, and will give old ones, if they are open enough, a recording to relish