"Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is the sound of Lucinda Williams doing what she does best and letting her muse do the speaking, and if that sounds simple, in practice it is and it isn't -- this music is taut and soulful, but also a document of one woman baring her spirit and mind to the world, which has always been the case with her best music, and if this isn't a masterpiece, it's as pure, straightforward, and compelling as anything she's done since Essence".