A cover of Bruce Springsteen’s song from his 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town. Though Williams' first album was a collection of blues classics, she built the rest of her career on the strength of her own songwriting, establishing herself among the ranks of America’s best (along with, for example, Springsteen). The songs she did lift from other writers were at least obscure enough that she was advancing them anew and carving new space for herself.

This isn’t to say she’s turned into a cover artist. If anything, it speaks to how strong her own writing has been that 3 prominent covers in 7 years seems like a new trend. 2008’s Little Honey closed with AC/DC’s “Long Way to the Top,” and 2011’s Blessed was completely solo-authored before 2014’s Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone’s sole cover was also its finale, an extended version of JJ Cale’s “Magnolia.”

By including just one cover, she invites us to read into its inclusion a broader conceptualization of the album. Ghosts of Highway 20 includes heavy, melancholy songs (“If My Love Could Kill,” “House of Earth,” “Ghosts,” etc.), but also some lighter and more optimistic fare (“Place in My Heart,” “Can’t Close the Door on Love”). All penned by Williams, track order alone isn’t enough to weight some more than others to tilt the balance. But “Factory,” as the only track whose labor was in its selection rather than creation, casts its shadow of somber sympathy over the rest of the album.

Seen as such, “Factory” strongly colors the rest of the album with its themes of the plight of the working poor, a great deal of sympathy for how the circumstances of their lives affected them.