Rogue’s Gallery

It’s probably old news to many of you here but I couldn’t find any mention of it so…

Has anyone heard Lucinda’s contribution to the album Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys?

As the title suggests, the album is a collection of traditional maritime songs which actually came about from conversation between Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski when filming Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest – they thought it might be a fun idea to have contemporary artists singing traditional (and often explicitly bawdy!) sea-songs. Enter record producer Hal Wilner, well known for assembling eclectic mixtures of musicians to perform on tribute albums, and the idea took off.

Besides Lucinda, the album includes an incredible array of performers including: Sting, Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright, Kate McGarrigle, Bono, Richard Thompson and Van Dyke Parks.

Lu’s song is called Bonnie Portmore – a celtic ballad bewailing the cutting down of the forests of what is now Northern Ireland for timber to use in England’s shipbuilding industry. While it does not compare with her best material, it is well sung (as one would expect!) and it is very interesting to hear her sing in a style that is thousands of miles and a few centuries removed from her home turf.

And now, a confession. When I first bought this album, I had never heard of Lucinda Williams! My initiation was extremely recent but (as I am sure you can all appreciate) irreversible. I was amazed to discover that I actually had a track by her in my collection already (what would we do without iTunes?) and have played it to death recently.

Anyway, I can heartily recommend the album to anyone (although with the disclaimer that I am not to be held responsible for the possible harmful effects of the explicit lyrics on some songs – especially Loudon Wainwright’s uncensored version of The Good Ship Venus! – on those unduly sensitive to such things.)