World's Gone Wrong is the sixteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. It was released on January 23, 2026, under Williams' own label Highway 20 Records with distribution by Thirty Tigers.
Background World's Gone Wrong features nine original songs composed by Williams and a cover of Bob Marley and the Wailers' "So Much Trouble in the World", heard here as a duet with Mavis Staples. The album also features additional guest appearances from Brittney Spencer ("The World's Gone Wrong" and "Something's Gotta Give") and Norah Jones ("We've Come Too Far to Turn Around").
The album was produced by Tom Overby and Ray Kennedy and recorded at the Room & Board Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
Promotion The album's lead single, "The World's Gone Wrong", was released on October 30, 2025, simultaneously with the album's announcement. A performance video coincided with the song's release. The second single, "So Much Trouble in the World", was released on December 12, 2025.
Critical reception In an article published by the Oxford American, writer Jim Beaugez commented, "World’s Gone Wrong articulates the anger, hope, and inspiration she’s carried since the protests of her youth, with songs that explore the struggles of race, poverty, and trauma that continue to shadow America today." The article also references parallels with the 2017 Jesmyn Ward novel Sing, Unburied, Sing, which inspired the song "Sing Unburied Sing": "In the same way Ward uses song as a medium for the marginalized, Williams recognizes the act of singing as protest and affirmation." John Amen of Beats Per Minute wrote, "Williams examines the 'dark age' we’re currently traversing but refuses to surrender to despair". He concluded, "World’s Gone Wrong extends Williams’ fertile run, infused with the aesthetic adventurousness and undiluted honesty that have characterized her work for over four decades".
As of August 2nd, 2026 World Gone Wrong has an aggregate score of 82 on Metacritic placing it in the Universal Acclaim category. https://www.metacritic.com/music/worlds-gone-wrong/lucinda-williams
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Lucinda Williams – vocals Ray Kennedy – production, mixing (all tracks), recording (tracks 1, 2, 4–10) Tom Overby – production John Rooney – recording (3) Pete Lyman – mastering Brady Blade – drums (all tracks), tambourine (3), djembe (5) David Sutton – electric bass (1–4, 6–10), backing vocals (3), upright bass (5) Doug Pettibone – electric guitar (1–7, 9, 10), backing vocals (3, 6, 7), resonator guitar (8), piano (9) Marc Ford – electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 6–9), acoustic guitar (3, 5), backing vocals (3), slide guitar (5, 10) Rob Burger – Hammond B3 (1–4, 6, 8, 9), Wurlitzer (4), Vox Jaguar (5) Brittney Spencer – backing vocals (1, 2) Mickey Raphael – harmonica (3) Maureen Murphy – backing vocals (4, 6, 7, 9) Mavis Staples – vocals (5) Siobhan M. Kennedy – backing vocals (6, 7) Norah Jones – vocals, piano (10) Mark Seliger – photography Fetzer Design – design
Charts + Chart performance for World's Gone Wrong Chart (2026) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 94 Croatian International Albums (HDU) 12 French Rock & Metal Albums (SNEP) 53 German Rock & Metal Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 11 Norwegian Physical Albums (IFPI Norge) 5 Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 7 UK Albums Sales (OCC) 8
References