Lucero
All a Man Should Do
(ATO Records/MapleMusic Recordings)
4/5
Long known in the musical circles I tend to gravitate towards as “the band that covered Jawbreaker’s ‘Kiss the Bottle,’” Memphis-based Lucero delivers their gritty country-rock with passion and confidence here on their tenth album.
Don’t go thinking this is mainstream pretty-boy country-pop; this is slamming-back-whiskey-at-the-rock-club country. Songs like the amazing “Went Looking for Warren Zevon’s Los Angeles” and “I Woke Up in New Orleans” paint a wonderful picture through the lyrics, and the musicŃwhich brings to mind the Wallflowers at their moodiest/bestŃproves that these guys would appeal to fans of gritty country rock and melodic punk (hence, the Jawbreaker cover).
The amazing feel-good “Throwback No. 2” evokes Bruce Springsteen in the excellent sax solo, incredible songwriting, and emotional performance. And jaw-dropping closer “My Girl & Me in ’93” is both wonderfully uplifting and heartbreakingly nostalgic.