Lucero celebrated two decades since original members Ben Nichols, Brian Venable, Roy Berry, and John C. Stubblefield (keyboardist Rick Steff joined in 2006) started playing shows in Memphis. The band released their ninth studio album, Among the Ghosts, and their first notable short film Written & Directed by Ben’s younger brother Jeff Nichols featuring the song Long Way Back Home this year.
Frontman and songwriter Ben Nichols used to tour the country singing about heartbreak touted with hard lessons of loneliness immersed from a binge of whiskey drinking. The new album represents a new era of heartache. Bens says, “Having to leave a family at home. It’s a whole new kind of heartbreak but it’s familiar territory. It’s still heartbreak, but it’s about leaving a two-year-old behind. When I am gone I’ve got to be away from the family. The songs actually help me get through that. It’s definitely different, especially from the last few records.”
Among the Ghosts is Lucero’s ninth studio album, but their debut on Nashville indie label Thirty Tigers, recorded and co-produced with Grammy-winning engineer/producer and Memphis native Matt Ross-Spang at the historic Sam Phillips Recording Service, the studio built by the legendary producer after outgrowing his Memphis Recording Service/Sun Studio. Musical legends from the 50s like B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis; recorded at Sun Studio known worldwide as “The Birthplace of Rock’n’roll” There is an emerging collective rebirth within the new Memphis sound which includes Lucero, Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Drive-by Truckers, among others all recorded with Matt Ross-Spang. The lyrics have shifted into a bit of a third-person storytelling style which shows the growth and evolution of the band.
Ben writes the songs, and the band arranges their parts to complete the sound. What is different about this album is the big horn sections, and the Memphis Rock sounds. Ben says, “The lyrics are a little more simple, a little more rock and roll, not quite as serious. We’ve stripped all that away and we’re not trying to explore any certain sound. We’re just kind of being Lucero. So these lyrics are representing where I’m at in my life right now and it’s just a good representation, for we are all at right now musically and lyrically.”
Lucero has made a mark on Rock’n’Roll and plans to keep playing from their entire catalog as a tight five-piece band live. The upcoming show will have ten songs off the new record, Among the Ghosts, and a couple of other new things that aren’t on the album.
Nichols claims, “We will play 25 songs in the night maybe more. We’ll play some old things that people definitely want to hear and we’ll play some old things that maybe aren’t expected that we haven’t played in a long time.”
Nichols’ advice to up-and-coming bands is to never give up. His life journey is in the songs he writes and they are full of real-life experiences and frankly, some rough feelings that he is very open about.
“The only thing we’ve done right is not stop. If you do it long enough you might not become rich and famous, if your songs are halfway good and you mean what you’re saying. Just sticking with it is the only real advice. It might not happen overnight. It might not happen in 10 years. You might not be as far along as you think you deserve to be but if you actually like what you’re doing, just don’t give up on it and stick with it. That’s the one that’s the one thing we’ve done right. It’s good. Everything else we’ve pretty much done wrong. But hey, you gotta make some mistakes, right?”
Discover more from The Silver Lining Magazine
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
