# The Ghosts of Highway 20

The Ghosts of Highway 20 is the 12th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. The double album was released on February 5, 2016, by Highway 20 Records. It was nominated for the Americana Music Award for Album of the Year.
"Bitter Memory" was performed by Connie Britton (as her character Rayna Jaymes) and Brad Paisley on the TV series Nashville. Britton's solo version appears on The Music of Nashville: Season 1, Volume 2.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10 |
| Metacritic | 83/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Consequence of Sound | B |
| Drowned In Sound | 7/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| Paste | 9.3/10 |
| PopMatters | |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Slant Magazine | |
| Spin | 8/10 |
The album received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 83 based on 19 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". AllMusic wrote "after releasing one of the best and boldest albums of her career with Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, Williams goes from strength to strength with The Ghosts of Highway 20, and it seems like a welcome surprise that she's moving into one of the most fruitful periods of her recording career as she approaches her fourth decade as a musician. Will Hermes writing in Rolling Stone commends the album's "languorous tempos". Hermes notes the recent passing of the singer's father, poet Miller Williams, as casting "mortality's shadow" across several songs on the album.

## Chart performance

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 36 on its release. It also debuted at No. 1 on the Folk Albums and Independent Albums charts, and No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums chart.

## Track listing

All songs written by Lucinda Williams, except where noted.

## Personnel

* Carlton "Santa" Davis - drums
* Bill Frisell - electric guitar
* Greg Leisz - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
* Val McCallum - electric guitar
* Butch Norton - drums, percussion, background vocals
* Ras Michael - hand drums, background vocals
* David Sutton - bass guitar, background vocals
* Lucinda Williams - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals, background vocals

## Charts

Chart performance for The Ghosts of Highway 20 :
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 20 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 40 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 25 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 104 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) | 53 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 21 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 29 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) | 49 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) | 88 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) | 17 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 21 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) | 83 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 28 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 43 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 33 |
| UK Americana Albums (OCC) | 2 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 5 |
| US Billboard 200 | 36 |
| US Folk Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) | 3 |