“She wasn’t feeling very good those days. The longer it went on, the worse it got.” The long road to Lucinda Williams’ breakthrough album — and the creative partnership that didn’t survive it.

History remembers Car Wheels on a Gravel Road as Lucinda Williams’ breakthrough — an album that helped define Americana and reshaped the singer-songwriter landscape. Lucinda Williams was part of that same Austin ecosystem, although Morlix didn’t meet her there. Those tensions would intensify during the making of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. “We were working on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road for forever and ever it seemed,” he says with a sigh. Listen closely to any Lucinda Williams album recorded since Car Wheels, and Morlix’s influence still lingers.