[7] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[8] later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which includes the singles "Right in Time" and the Grammy nominated "Can't Let Go", became Williams' greatest commercial success to date.

[10] One of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of her generation,[2] Williams has released a string of albums since that have earned her further critical acclaim and commercial success, including World Without Tears (2003), West (2007), Little Honey (2008), Blessed (2011), Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014), The Ghosts of Highway 20 (2016), and Good Souls Better Angels (2020).

[22] Her father worked as a visiting professor in Mexico and different parts of the United States, including Baton Rouge; New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; and Utah before settling at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Smithsonian Folkways provides a description: "The first recordings from an artist with a gift for interpreting original blues from Robert Johnson to Memphis Minnie to the Carter Family.

Trouser Press felt the record was more "rock-oriented" than Williams' debut album, writing that she used timeworn ideas such as "smoke-stained bars, open roads and a heart that never learns" but reimagined them "in a way that is both contemporary and uncynical".

In the 1980s, Williams moved to Los Angeles, California (before finally settling in Nashville, Tennessee), where, at times backed by a rock band and at others performing in acoustic settings, she developed a following and a critical reputation.

[32] The single "Changed the Locks", about a broken relationship, received radio play around the country and gained fans among music insiders, including Tom Petty, who would later cover the song in 1996 on the soundtrack album to the Edward Burns film She's The One.

[7] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[8] later writing that the album was "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant [with] short-story details ('chess pieces,' 'dresses that zip up the side') packing a textural thrill akin to local color".

[9] AllMusic's Steve Huey said it was just as good as her 1988 self-titled album, calling it "a gorgeous, elegiac record that not only consolidates but expands Williams' ample talents.

[41] Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly in July 1998, David Browne found Williams' hard-edged evocations of Southern rural life refreshing amid a music market overrun by timid, mass-produced female artists,[42] while The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau argued at the time that she proved herself to be the era's "most accomplished record-maker" by honing traditional popular music composition, understated vocal emotions, and realistic narratives colored by her native experiences and values.

[18] The single "Can't Let Go" also enjoyed considerable crossover radio play and garnered Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for Williams.

The title track includes a contribution on tremolo guitar by alternative country musician Ryan Adams, and earned Williams a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

[54] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn deemed it "a rock 'n' roll workout", writing that its edgiest songs sounded "close to the raw, disoriented feel" of the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main St..[55] World Without Tears earned Williams two Grammy nominations in 2004: Best Contemporary Folk Album, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Righteously".

[56] Williams was a guest vocalist on the song "Factory Girls" from Irish punk-folk band Flogging Molly's 2004 album "Within a Mile of Home",[57] and appeared on Elvis Costello's The Delivery Man (2004).

[59] In 2006, she recorded a version of the John Hartford classic "Gentle on My Mind", which played over the closing credits of the Will Ferrell film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

[64] In July 2008, though "Little Honey" was yet to be released, Paste listened to an advance copy and ranked the duet between Williams and Elvis Costello on the song "Jailhouse Tears" as the No.

[65] Her 2008 concert appearance at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz contained an announcement by the city's mayor that September 6, 2008, would henceforth be Lucinda Williams Day.

Williams released a cover of Shel Silverstein's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" in June 2010, as part of the Twistable, Turnable Man tribute album.

[71] In July 2011, Williams' performance of her song "Crescent City" at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was included in HBO's Treme series 2 finale, episode 11; the characters comment that it was "amazing she wrote this before the storm", referring to Hurricane Katrina.

[72] In September 2012, Williams was featured in a campaign called "30 Songs / 30 Days" to support Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book.

[74] On September 30, 2014, Williams released her 11th studio album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, and performed the track "Protection" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

[82] Writing for Exclaim!, Mark Dunn gave the album seven out of 10, agreeing that Williams' voice has changed dramatically in the ensuing 25 years but noting that she uses it as an instrument masterfully, pairing it with stripped-down country arrangements, compared to the more pop feel of the 1992 release.

[83] George de Stefano of PopMatters gave the release nine stars out of ten, calling it a "surprising and bold move" and writes that both the re-recordings and the new tracks are "gems".

[84] On June 29, 2018, Blue Note Records released Vanished Gardens, a collaborative album by Charles Lloyd & the Marvels and Williams, who performed on five tracks, including "Dust" from The Ghosts of Highway 20, "Ventura" from World Without Tears, and "Unsuffer Me" from West.

[85] Marvels members Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz had previously worked with Williams,[86] including on her 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

The album was met with critical acclaim; AllMusic wrote "the pairing of this band with Williams sounds natural, effortless, and holistic",[87] while Rolling Stone called it a "savvy stylistic blend".

[88] In 2019, Williams produced New York City singer-songwriter Jesse Malin's eighth studio album Sunset Kids, which was met with widespread critical acclaim.

[107] It was announced on October 7, 2024, that the seventh volume in Lu's Jukebox series, Lucinda Williams sings the Beatles from Abbey Road, would be released on December 6, 2024.

[108] A reviewer in Rolling Stone magazine said that in covering the Beatles' music on this album, Williams was one of few who successfully [honored] "the source material, making it uniquely [her] own, and creating something worth hearing".