Lucinda Williams’ Beatles Record Soundtracks A Good Time Without Straying Too Far

Cover albums are notoriously challenging beasts. Artists must try to balance maintaining individuality, while also adhering to the source material. Listeners have to justify listening to new interpretations, when the original songs are often easily accessible. When covering a band as beloved, foundational, and obsessed-over as The Beatles, every choice becomes subject to overanalyzing. It’s a bold, even dangerous move.

But country-rock, singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is no stranger to courageous moves in the music industry. Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road, the seventh installment of her celebrated “Lu’s Jukebox” cover series (which also included tributes to Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and more), pays faithful homage to the Fab Four. Williams interprets 12 Beatles songs, across five records and a single (A Hard Day’s Night, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, and Let It Be), and includes songs originally sung by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

Recorded at Abbey Road in London in a mere three days, Williams was (surprisingly) the first artist to record Beatles songs there, according to her husband/manager Tom Overby in the liner notes. Her band, most notably featuring guitarists Doug Pettibone and Marc Ford, matches The Beatles’ tone nearly perfectly, especially on the earliest selections like “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Rain,” as well as the shredding solos in Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Back in 2020, Williams suffered a stroke, but even today at 71, her voice sounds remarkably strong. Although her range stays fairly narrow on Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road, she unleashes her higher register convincingly throughout “I Got A Feelin’.” Lyrically, her worn, gravelly voice brings even greater depth to Lennon’s loneliness and angst in “Yer Blues,” as well as his weariness in “I’m So Tired.”

Of course, tackling one of the most foundational bands in human existence isn’t going to be easy or yield flawless results. The tempo of Harrison’s “Something” moves too slowly, turning Harrison’s best love song into something closer to a dirge. And “Let It Be,” one of The Beatles’ most beloved tracks, is disappointing simply because it doesn’t stand out. The perfection of the original rests in its simplicity, so it’s nearly impossible to make it one’s own. If the cover is too experimental, it can be distasteful compared to the original; if the cover adheres too much to the original, like in this case, the result can be simply lackluster.

Undoubtedly, Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road is a passion project for all involved. That passion is obvious, even reverent throughout the record. It doesn’t necessarily challenge the original works or interpret them in revolutionary ways, but that’s also seemingly not the point. The album exists simply because Williams wanted to make it happen, and because fans will definitely enjoy it.

Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road is out Dec. 6 via Thirty Tigers.