How Lucinda Williams Got Her Joy Back

Lucinda Williams' 2007 album West was powerful and soul-baring but also sort of a downer (sample lyric: "My joy is dead"), but her new album Little Honey (which just debuted in the Billboard top 10) is a more upbeat, rock-oriented affair. Finding true love and getting married helped. "I actually started writing positive love songs," she says, citing Little Honey tracks like "Tears of Joy" and "Plan to Marry" – both inspired by husband Tom Overby. Click below for more from Williams, including where she likes to write and what's on tap for her upcoming EP of protest songs.

• How Lucinda Williams Got Her Joy Back

Related Stories:
• Album Review: Lucinda Williams, Little Honey
• In the Studio: Lucinda Williams Cures Her Blues
• Classic Feature: The Essence of Lucinda

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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