Lucinda Williams World's Gone Wrong

Lucinda Williams' New 2026 Studio Album World's Gone Wrong LP: Featuring Mavis Staples, Norah Jones & Brittney Spencer

Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams confronts America's socio-political chaos head-on with her 2026 album World's Gone Wrong.

World's Gone Wrong is a raw and unapologetic set of songs that were written and recorded with a sense of urgency during the spring of 2025. The album opens with the powerful title track, featuring Brittney Spencer, which speaks to the plight of the working class during these turbulent times, and the resiliency to move forward with the underlying plea of "come on baby we gotta stay strong" in the chorus.

Throughout nine original tracks, Williams offers songs that do not just chronicle our times but challenge us to rise above them. A timely cover of Bob Marley's "So Much Trouble in the World" features a captivating duet with the incomparable Mavis Staples. The bluesy "How Much Did You Get for Your Soul" revisits the spiritual reckoning of Williams' celebrated 2020 release Good Souls Better Angels. "Freedom Speaks" is a soul-stirring anthem that personifies liberty as a voice rising against oppression and apathy warning us of the dangers of complacency in the face of injustice.

The album closes with the deeply moving "We've Come Too Far to Turn Around," featuring Norah Jones on piano and harmony vocals. The hymn-like track is rooted in struggle and redemption while acknowledging the challenge to maintain the fortitude and spiritual conviction needed when turning back is not an option. Jones' and Williams' emotive vocals blend seamlessly, offering a breathtaking finale to an essential work for these times.

World's Gone Wrong serves as a wake-up call and a battle cry, finding beauty, grit, and grace in a world on edge. The album reaffirms Williams' place as one of the most vital and uncompromising voices in American music.

World's Gone Wrong was co-produced by Tom Overby and longtime Williams' collaborator Ray Kennedy, who recorded and mixed the album at his Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN.