After three albums, Lucinda Williams’ biggest success came from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Grammy-winning cover of her song “Passionate Kisses.” Going into her fourth, she was determined to take her recording to the next level. That involved recording, re-recording and going through two producers (Gurf Morlix and Steve Earle) before finishing it up herself. The demand for perfection ended up, well, being perfect. This collection of 13 songs ranged from the ragged country of the title track and folky ballads like “Drunken Angel” to the East Texas blues of “Joy” and Appalachian holler of “Jackson.” Throughout each, the poetry in her lyrics, the passion in her voice and the alchemy in the collection of musicians surrounding her (in addition to Morlix and Earle, the album features John Ciambotti, Donald Lindley, Buddy Miller, Ray Kennedy, Greg Leisz, Roy Bittan, Jim Lauderdale, Charlie Sexton and Emmylou Harris) make for one of my favorite albums period—and the best alt-country album of all time. —Josh Jackson