Austin Lucas

Indiana native Austin Lucas’s fourth album is something a of a joy, even if at times it strays a little too close to his heroes for comfort. He opens it with the fast and furious hoedown “Run Around” and follows that with the steel-drenched and very traditionally country structured “Sit Down.” So far, good but hardly original.
But Lucas does more than show himself adept at aping standard country tropes. The latter song, sung from the point of view of a man whose wife has left him, is simply dripping heartache and boasts lines the likes of “I play like a poor wounded angel/But I am a good timing man”. He has soul too, and “Nevada County Line”, perhaps the best thing here and a beautiful song of love gained and lost, is utterly devoid of cliché and predictability.

He rips it up again on “Feast”, with plenty of banjo and fiddle and also some serious gothic-cum-spiritual imagery, combines hard but honest words on religion and war in “Keys” and ends with the epic and sweeping “Somewhere A Light Shines” – it may be self-consciously big but by jiminy its good 'big'. There is an occasional tendency to sound a bit too much like Son Volt circa “Wide Swing Tremolo”, notably on “Thunder Rail” and “The Grain” (the latter also leading off with the Neil Young riff from “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” and boasting some apocalyptic lyrics) but the songs themselves are great, as is his voice, and this should be the album to get him some wider recognition. - Americana UK

I first heard Austin Lucas on a song on a promo compilation compiled by Suburban Home Records (specifically Suburban Home Records Mix Tape Volume 5.) The compilation was a great mix of current and classic performers but the song that kept me coming back was a demo version of Sleep Well, a languorous slice of sparse, somber beauty that haunted me and drew me in again and again.

Lucas is journeyman of sorts. In his career this Indiana native has navigated metal, punk, folk and country. His dexterity and fidelity to the craft led him to collaborations with fellow punk vets Chuck Ragan (Hometown Caravan) and Frank Turner (Under The Influence: Volume 7) and led to Lucas landing a spot on Regan’s post-punk foray into roots-folk collective known as The Revival Tour.

On first impression Lucas proves the idiom “You Can’t judge a book ..’ Much like Aaron Neville,
with whom Lucas not only shares a startling looks-to-voice disparity but also an expressive vibrato.

Lucas’ voice also carries the high lonesome of Bill Monroe in the opener Run Around, a jaunty front-porch break-down and Sit Down, a lost love number accented with Todd Beene’s weeping pedal steel and barroom piano. These are songs I’d recommend to anyone bemoaning about country music’s glory days gone by.

Thunder Rail and The Grain with their ringing guitar hooks, earnestly cryptic lyrics are post-punk gems that show Lucas has been an astute student of 80’s era R.E.M. His voice even takes on Stipe-like qualities on the latter.

There is a more filled-out version of the aforementioned Sleep Well featuring Lucas’ sister Chloe on backing vocals. This version holds just as much poignancy as that demo introduction, though I do miss that harmonica.

Keys is a lyrical and poetic testament against the insidious seduction of war “ I was told once only battle can save me from my own worthlessness.” If truth is the first casualty of war it falls on the Lucas to offer truth sanctuary within his allegory.

Throughout this fine release is a crackerjack band comprised of Lucas’ father Robert – who handed down his music legacy to his boy, Lucas’ sister Chloe and wife Cate on vocals ,cChris Westhoff, Jason Groth & Mike Kapinus from Magnolia Electric Company, Todd Beene from Lucero, Christian Rutledge from Bowery Boy Blue. - Twang Nation

Austin Lucas is nothing if not a always on the move, both figuratively and literally. In his time he's played everything from technical metal to crust to folk and lived everywhere from Indiana to Prague, to Portland, Ore., and everywhere in between. Lucas seems most at home when he's anywhere that's slightly uncomfortable, be that playing in a crowded living room of a house, or pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as his musical norm. It should come as no surprise that his new album, A New Home in the Old World, finds Lucas doing just that: making himself right at home while continuing to push boundaries.

The most obvious place Lucas is seen growing is the immensely expanded musical backing on New Home. Lucas has long been growing from the sparse singer-with-an-acoustic template, but this shows him jumping headlong into full musical expansion and embracing it with both arms. Tracks just don't have a bass and drums added, but violins, banjo, horns, additional vocals and even electric guitars. It certainly may be a bit surprising to fans of Lucas' earlier, more stripped-down The Common Cold, but the backing really supports the album as a whole. Previous releases tended to be carried by Lucas' amazing voice, and while it worked well, it meant lulls in vocals meant a lull in the song. The additional instruments keep every song moving along briskly, regardless of the vocals. This is clearly heard in the nearly five-minute "Thunder Rail", which plays at such a rocking and bouncy pace it's over before you even know it.

The other area of growth is Lucas' lyrics and, more specifically, his embracing of song structure and hooks. This is something (like expanded instrumentation) that Lucas has dabbled with in the past, but he never seemed to fully commit (one might recall the amazing chorus of "Somebody Loves You" that was made just slightly frustrating by its refusal to keep the same lyrics for each go-around). Lucas makes a firm declaration on New Home by kicking it off with "Run Around", which has one of the strongest hooks he has ever written and features a belted-out, unapologetic scorn to some unnamed young female. If nothing else, the increased focus on powerful, catchy repetition makes this album easier to sing along with while drunk, which (let's be honest) is how a-many people are going to be singing along with this album.

It's impossible to say what Austin Lucas meant when he named his album A New Home in the Old World. Even if Lucas was to explain it, now that it's out in the world and open to interpretation, the meaning is up to the listener. Through focusing on the music, it's easy to see how it can be a reference to Lucas' relationship with music. He has always sought to carve out a unique niche in a style of music that is classic, even considered old-fashioned by some. Lucas takes that goal a step further with his new album, blending rock with folk like a fine, blended whiskey that goes down dangerously smooth...which is, oddly enough, exactly what you should be drinking while enjoying this album. - Punk News

Could you please state your name?
Austin: My name is Austin Lucas.

It's the fourth day of Willie Nelson's Country Throwdown, how has tour been so far?

Austin: Absolutely amazing. Incredible.

And what do you anticipate for the rest of the tour?

Austin: Nothing but greatness, as a matter of fact.


You don't have a full time backing band?

Austin: I'm starting to put one together, when this tour's over I'll be gathering one together because I have off a few weeks, then I'll be starting a headlining tour and that will have a full back up band. I've been working on the band since April or something like that.


Who would make up your ideal backing band if you could chose them?

Austin: That's mean, that's a mean question to ask! I don't know. Shoot. I mean, that's the kind of thing you should email me ahead of time, so I can plan on what to say.

Not to hurt anyone's feelings type line up?

Austin: I would like the original line up of the Flying Burrito Brothers as the back up band.


Video: Austin Lucas "Thunder Rail" Last Chance Records

Recently, you've toured with Cory Branan...

Austin: We did about three months together last year.

Did he give you any advice on what to look forward to Country Throwdown?

Austin: All sorts of advice. When I got the offer for this tour, he was the first person I called, immediately. I asked him what to expect, I wanted to know what kind of crowd was like, what the crew was like, what the shows were like, etc.

Was there anything you remember well that he said?

Austin: He said that the crew was some of the most amazing people he has ever worked with and I was going to have one of the best times of my life and he's right.

A New Home In Our World was released this year. How was the recording process, how long did it take, and who helped you with recording?

Austin: My family was on the record, just like all my records. The really big difference between this record and the last record is that all of my records have been recorded in my father's living room and he produced all of them and this one was a big studio with me producing it. I wanted to take the drivers seat for once, you know. Also, there's drums and electric guitar on it too, that's another big difference. For the most part, it's pretty much the same kind of music that I always did just souped up. I like to say that it's like me turned to 11.


Five things that can always be found in your fridge?

Austin: Louisiana hot sauce, spicy mustard like a good dijon, mayo, peanut butter - crunchy peanut butter, orange juice with lots of pulp!


Three things you would take with you on a desert island?

Austin: My guitar, my wife, and my dog.


Do you have any crazy tour stories that you're willing to share?

Austin: I have so many crazy tour stories, that I'm not willing to share.

Any PG ones?

Austin: One time, we broke down in California and took the van to automechanic and they told us we had thrown a rod and it was about $2,000 to replace the entire engine because that's what you have to do when you throw a rod. So, we took it to another mechanic just to get a second opinion, they told us the same thing. So we thought, well we should just buy a new van for $1,000 to end of the tour. So we went shopping for a van, we ended up finding one, it was not a very nice van but it was in our price range, and basically the owner of the van owned a bunch of mountain chalets in Mount Shasta, CA, that's where we ended up going. Got the van towed to Mount Shasta, CA and turns out that he kind of basically owned the town and he gave us the chalet for free you know to stay there cause he was making a bunch of money off of us. That night, we invited people from the town to come and party with us because we had nothing else to do, so then all these people like 50 or 60 people we didn't know, showed up and came to party with us in this nice cottage or whatever, and one of the guys was like, "Hey, that van is the worst thing in the whole world, it's not going to get you 100 miles outside of here and if you buy it you're just going to be stuck in the same situation with these guys. We know these guys... let us take your van to them tomorrow in the the early AM and see what's the matter with it" and we did it and it was a $100 repair, it was the fan was broken and all those mechanics had been lying to us because they wanted to get the big money out of us and so we tore out of town and it also turns out that the mechanic in both of those shops were owned by the guy who owned the van.


What's your favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn?

Austin: I don't know about mine but my wife was Ash from Evil Dead last year, which I think is really cool. She made the chainsaw arm and all that, she looked really amazing.


Do you have any upcoming plans for after Country Throwdown?

Austin: Yeah, I leave for a headlining tour about a month after.

How long is that tour for?
- Examiner

To judge a book by its cover, Austin Lucas may look like the odd man out on the Country Throwdown tour. Boasting an extensive collection of tattoos, Lucas could pen a novel with the amount of ink decorating his body. However, he doesn’t write his stories on paper; he sings every last one as if it were his final curtain call, leaving everything onstage before taking his bow.

For Lucas, performing on the Country Throwdown Tour is coming full-circle as a musician. Raised in the backwoods country of Monroe County, Indiana, Lucas was born into a bluegrass lineage. His father, Bob Lucas, is an accomplished musician and performer in his own right, having earned songwriting credits on two of Allison Kraus’ albums, including 1997’s Grammy-winning So Long So Wrong. Learning to harmonize before learning to read, Lucas’ talent was recognized and fostered from an early age. Beyond pickin’ sessions on the porch, Lucas honed his vocal control in six formative years as a member of the nationally-acclaimed Indiana University Children’s Choir.

In a narrative as well-worn as it is true, Lucas rebelled against his upbringing, leaving the country for the bustle of the big city. Beyond the rolling hills of southern Indiana, Lucas also left the comfort of traditional music for the catharsis of punk rock. After the better part of a decade spent criss-crossing the globe with a series of bands in broken-down vans, collecting scars and collecting stories, Lucas was all out of angst. Reflecting on the experience, Lucas contends, “I wasn’t interested in that musical style as a lifestyle anymore; I didn’t want that to be the focus of my general existence.” While much of the appeal of punk music lies in its unrefined rawness and simplicity, Lucas hit a musical glass-ceiling. “I found myself in need of a different musical palate to paint with in order to create more diverse melodies and lyrical imagery, and the clarity provided in acoustic music allows for an easier gateway for listeners to hear what you’re speaking about.”

In between the endless tours of dingy clubs and basements, Lucas found respite for his ringing ears in the delicacy of traditional songcraft. “I spent five years living in Prague, and the distance geographically and culturally made me feel more connected to my family, culture and past, all of which affected the direction of my songwriting.” As they say, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.

Following his solo debut, The Common Cold (2006), Lucas has steadily built upon his recorded output, releasing Putting The Hammer Down (2007) and Somebody Loves You (2009), which debuted at #7 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. Additionally, Lucas has found time to record a collaborative record and a number of limited-run vinyl singles, including a stripped-down rendition of Dolly Parton’s ‘To Daddy.’ Culminating with his fourth album, A New Home in the Old World (2011), Lucas has consistently evolved and grown as a musician and songwriter, resting on no laurels. As he sees it, “The best thing about being a solo artist is the ability to move forward and experiment all the time, to not be dictated by others’ influences, but to have the ability to move around and explore your own influences.”

In the simplest of terms, one can track the trajectory of Lucas’ discography by counting the additional players on the records. While some of his earlier recordings were as bare-bones as they come --a voice, a guitar, and a microphone-- each successive album has built upon the songs’ framework, incorporating banjo, fiddle, upright bass, and pedal steel. A New Home in the Old World ratchets the sound up to the next level, adding texture with a Hammond B3 organ, the brassy flourishes of a trumpet, and even a little bit of muscle, courtesy of electric guitar. ”It’s scary, being an acoustic musician and transitioning to a more electric sound; if your fanbase has pigeonholed you and come to expect one thing from you, if you don’t continue to fill those shoes it can be the kiss of death to your career. But at the same time, I’m like a shark: I’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Recorded in December 2010 at Farm Fresh Studios in Lucas’ hometown of Bloomington, A New Home in the Old World was mixed and mastered by Paul Mahern, who has built his reputation engineering records for Bloomington’s prodigal son, John Mellencamp. "Having grown up with Mellencamp and Bloomington music in general, working with Paul is a new benchmark in my career." While the elder Lucas has been at the helm producing his son's records, A New Home in the Old World marks Lucas' first time self-producing. "Having had my Dad produce all my recordings, this was something I wanted to do, to see if I could accomplish the task myself."

While Lucas does not have a regular backing band, his studio accompaniment comes from a rotating cast of friends and family. Members of alt-country darlings Lucero and Magnolia Electric Co. - Country Throwdown

Like many a young Americana act, burly troubadour Austin Lucas cut his teeth on underground punk and hardcore before soaking up the sounds of his heritage (his father Bob Lucas, whose banjo stipples some of these eleven tracks, is a Grammy-winning songwriter).

But once bitten by the bluegrass bug, he's progressed apace: this fourth album is steeped in country mystique, from the dog whose barking lends the title-track its authentic back-porch flavour, to the heartbreak and jealousy, torments and bitter apprehensions of death which pit the surfaces of his songs. In one song, the devil has "his own icy hand wrapped around this precious little heart I have"; in the next, that same heart is "beating the cadence of a funeral march", both portents casting a cloud over whatever prospects he possesses. But then, portents are a constant companion when your voice shares some of the "high lonesome" character of George Jones: even the poignant bluegrass duet "Singing Man", which recalls Jones's work with Tammy Wynette, opens with the chilly scene-setting line "On a long and winding road, 'neath the passing of crows" – an image so starkly compelling it's hard to believe it wasn't written by Hank Williams or Johnny Cash. - The Independent

Tattoos finish the rolled-up sleeves of Austin Lucas' pearl snap. The songwriter from Bloomington, Ind., who played the White Eagle Saloon on Wednesday night and will again tonight, dramatizes his wholesome face, side-singing through one of his round, country-boy cheeks, squinting or making wide eyes on a hard-to-reach note.

Lucas once called Prague home and he plans to live in Portland after his current tour. He's an alt-country singer who used to play in grindcore bands. His songs are personal and beautiful, though presented jovially, standing, guitar in hand, backed at times by a fiddle or second voice and never wanting more.

The 75 or so people who nearly filled the narrow bar reflected the performer's unusual mix of new, old, classic and alternative elements in punk-patched denim jackets, different lengths of gray hair, cute outfits on pretty girls and baseball hats on jocks. They were treated to lyrical images that fake you out. You think that line about "hundreds of miles of Georgia road" is a bit of a country cliche, but then it's followed up with "my ears ringing from some 15 basement shows," and you wonder, "How different are a touring underground punk band and a traveling honky-tonk act from days of yore, really?"

A few dedicated fans sang along with Lucas on the title track from his latest record, "Somebody Loves You," but others managed to talk over the singer's powerful – and amplified – voice. "Do you think you guys could actually be quiet for two songs?" Lucas asked, and then explained he intended to come down from the 18 inch stage and do his last two numbers unplugged.

"I've got a better idea," he said as he prepared to sing on the floor, "let's go outside." Lucas led his fans to smoking patio where they stood in close quarters 6 wide and 12 deep. At the end of his finale, and the most emotional song of his set, "Sun and Snow," Lucas left big pauses between the last lines that were dead silent. Had the crowd been less wowed at that point, at least some of them would have thought the song was over and started applauding. But they were absolutely speechless. - Oregonlive.com

Austin Lucas has a booking agent. Austin Lucas is signed to a record label. Hell, he is signed to a few record labels. So why is Austin Lucas doing a tour of house shows? Because he wants to, that’s why. I had a chance to speak with Lucas following last night’s house show in Little Rock. He explained to me that his roots are firmly in the soil of DIY punk music and that is what he grew up doing — playing house shows. He said it offers him a different kind of interaction with the crowd.

“People that come to house shows are the die-hards,” he said. He’s right; the house was filled with as many as 40 die-hard fans. Many called out for their favorite songs, and when he indulged the request, most were singing right along with him, some in harmony. There was no amplification; this was an acoustic set in the truest sense and included no fewer than 12 songs, two of which were newly written. All were very well received by the capacity crowd, but for me the highlights were “Hollywood,” “Dead Factories,” “Go West,” “Somebody Loves You,” and “Wash My Sins Away.”

When he would play new songs the crowd would listen quietly and attentively. You rarely get that type of intense crowd interaction in a club or a bar filled with people schmoozing and boozing. Now don’t go thinking that it was a perfect night, filled with stuffy call-and-response interaction with adoring fans and their idol, it was not. There were a couple of false starts that were just laughed off and there was a tongue-in-cheek admission to lifting a guitar lick from Tenacious D. There was also an attempt to coax the crowd into providing a mouth-trumpeted solo that proved to be a tall order.

You also shouldn’t think Lucas’ roots are limited to DIY punk music. The bio on his website mentions that he was “born into a folk and bluegrass lineage” and that “his father, Bob Lucas, is an accomplished musician and performer in his own right, having earned songwriting credits on two of Allison Krauss’ albums.” This punk/bluegrass duality is evident in his songs and his performance. Lucas sings with a great set of finely-tuned pipes that have that high-lonesome sound in spades, and his lyrics are full of piss, vinegar and adolescent angst.

His appearance at the show even shows this duality. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt while playing a Martin D-28 guitar. Now for those of you that are not total guitar geeks, and those of you who don’t spend all of your free time at bluegrass festivals, let me explain: Bluegrass is very strict form — think Greek orders of architecture. There are no more than three accepted models of guitars in the International Brotherhood of Bluegrass Guitar Pickers (IBBGP). All are Martins: the D-18, D-28 and D-45. Attire in the world of bluegrass is also prescribed. Overalls are permitted but your Sunday best is preferred. So that combination of the D-28 and a Black Sabbath T shirt is like serving smoked pulled pork at a kosher deli. As long as it’s tasty and folks don’t think too hard about it, you can get away with it. And Lucas gets away with it.

Seth Baldy opened the evening with a set of heartfelt original songs, many with local connections and subject matter. This was my first time hearing Baldy play and sing; I hope it is not the last. “Cottonwood Trees” and “Falling for You” are two of the standouts that I hope to hear again. He did not seem all that at ease in front of the crowd but this worked to his advantage since most of his songs had an uneasy, sentimental feeling about them. The tension tended to accentuate the songs. He set his jaw closed, and his eyes went to work like a helmsman steering headlong into stormy weather.

This being a house show in a private residence, I think it important to mention the hosts: Eric and Miloe Braden. They graciously opened up their lovely home to strangers. They rearranged a good bit of their house to accommodate the crowd comfortably and made everyone feel welcome. When I spoke with them after the show, they told me that this is the second show they have hosted and that they enjoy the music and hope to host more shows in the future.
- Arkansas Times

The PJ Harvey album rang a lot of bells for me this year, less for its subject matter (which was nevertheless compelling) than for Harvey's successful attempt to combine musical spindliness with prosey phrase-making.

My two other favourite records were also voiced by women, at equally low amplitudes but from very different geographical starting points. Gillian Welch's The Harrow and the Harvest was, I thought, a scintillating return to form. Equally delicate, albeit without quite the same subtlety, was Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight's The Days That Shaped Me, which ignored many of the clichés of Anglo-folk in favour of a tender rummage in family cupboards.

Tom Waits' back-in-the-groove Bad as Me was splendid. Meanwhile two much younger things kept their discourse equally intense. Austin Lucas's A New Home in the Old World lived up to the expectations wrought by his debut. Israel Nash Gripka demonstrated, with Barn Doors and Concrete Floors, that his past included sides two and three of Exile on Main St, which obviously can't hurt.

Honorable mentions go to Nick Lowe, Hayes Carll, Jackie Oates and Ry Cooder; formal farewells to Glen Campbell and Etta James who signed off on formidable careers with fine digitised adieux. - The Independent

One of the standouts in 2011 so far has been Bloomington, Indiana-based singer/songwriter Austin Lucas, and his album A New Home in the Old World. And apparently this isn’t just my opinion, as Austin was able to land on this summer’s Country Throwdown tour’s exclusive lineup.

On July 4th, the Country Throwdown and Willie Nelson’s long-running 4th of July Picnic’s collided in Ft. Worth, TX’s historic stockyards at Billy Bob’s Texas. Of all the amazing talent amassed on that historic day, at the top of my list for folks to interview was Austin. He was kind enough to sit down with me for about a hour to discuss his experience on the Country Throwdown and touring with Willie Nelson, how he got into country music after starting in the punk/metal scene, the business of songwriting, and how his goals are measured and focused on the art of songwriting first, above his own popularity.

Find the full audio of out interview below, and the big points of the interview are transcribed below as well. Austin will also be on tour later this summer and into fall, including some dates with Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, so check at the very bottom for those dates.

Triggerman: How’s the Country Throwdown tour been, and how did you get on it?

Austin Lucas: It wasn’t a shock to me to be on the Country Throwdown because my booking agent had said it was very probable to be on the tour. The shock for me was because last year the headliner was Montgomery Gentry, and this year Willie Nelson was the headliner. I mean how many opportunities does a person like me, especially from a totally far off distance scene but of course has been a Willie Nelson fan his entire life, get the opportunity to tour with Willie Nelson, an American Icon? I’ve told people that I peaked on this tour. I don’t know that I’ll ever do something as great as standing on stage with Willie Nelson. I’ve sang with him many times on this tour. At the end of the show we all get up on stage and do gospel. I’ve done it exactly six times, not that I’m counting (laughing).

Triggerman: You’re not out here with a band. What they’re doing to showcase the up-and-comers is these Nashville Rounds where you’re with other songwriters. How’s that been as an experience, not just as a songwriter, but as a performer?

Austin Lucas: Most of the people on this tour are not performers, they’re Nashville writers. Of course some of them are artists, but the focus of their career thus far has been to write hits for people. And I’m the only one that doesn’t live in Nashville. So what’s cool about this tour is people are like, “Oh, so you live in Nashville?” and I’m like “No, I’m from the Midwest”. I’m from southern Indiana and honestly the common people there believe themselves to be from the South. But geographically speaking, I’m definitely an outsider.

Triggerman: When it comes to the underground country scene, it seems like there’s a lot of bands coming from the Midwest and Upper Midwest, and I’ve always wondered why that is. There is a lot of great Southern bands as well. Some people think I have a conspiracy against Southern bands because I’m always covering people from Indiana, or Michigan, or Minnesota.

Austin Lucas: The potential reasoning for that could be, and it’s really unfortunate, but Southern culture has been so substantially mined for stereotypes, and exploited. Everybody expects certain things from Southern bands. Obviously not all Southern bands provide that thing that they’re looking for. A lot of the markets there are looking for a certain thing.There’s still a lot of radio hanging around, so there’s a lot of effort to produce hits. Like whereas when you’re coming from Indiana, you’re not trying to produce hits, you’re just trying to make a record and write songs. There’s no hope for us to have hits, so we write the songs that we want, and play music for us.

Triggerman: You said before that you’ve been touring for 15 years, and you’ve been working for 5 years on this project specifically. Where did you come from? Explain in brief your music career, where you first picked up a guitar, and are now sharing a stage with Willie Nelson.

Austin Lucas: I started with my dad as a very small child, making music with him. I didn’t get serious about it until I was 12 or 13 years old, and that was playing in punk bands. I ruined my voice singing in punk bands and then later metal bands. I was in that scene very deeply, I still am actually and I still do tours, like my band Guided Cradle, were on hiatus right now technically. The guitar player also plays in a band called Hellshock which is a very famous band in our scene. We’re just waiting to get the steam to do something else. But basically in 2000 I was singing in a band called Rune, which is a grindcore band that was on Relapse Records, and I just kind of stopped doing it and stated playing acoustic music. So I’ve actually been at this project for 11 years, but it took me 5 years before I got my voice - Saving Country Music

Holy shit! Who would have guessed that something this kick-ass could come from some baby-faced guy, who if it weren't for his tattoo sleeves, could pass for the tuba player in your high school marching band.



Indiana-born singer-songwriter, Austin Lucas is giving his audience something different and exciting on his fourth album, A New Home In The Old World. Known for his acoustic work, Lucas' new release is offering an energetic, full band sound with guitar anthems and acoustic ballads. The album is an exhibition of eloquent songwriting and excellent singing in which Lucas is always in control and pitch-perfect. Calling on his friends from Lucero as well as family, their contributions adds interest and enhances A New Home.



Opening with the rollicking “Run Around” the album starts full throttle. The drums, clawhammer banjo and fiddle grab your attention and perfectly complement Lucas' twangy vocals. On the next track, “Sit Down,” the classic country arrangement doesn't sugar coat the harsh character of a cheater. “Thunder Rail” is a song you'll be replay over and over again. A rockin' country anthem with crisp and agile guitar riffs making it as hard to ignore as a thundering train barreling down the track. “The Grain” is another guitar-driven song that is reminiscent of Neil Young and a bit more rock-influenced than the previous track mentioned.



“Nevada County Line” is a beautifully heartbreaking acoustic ballad. Lucas sings softly and in-sync with the gentle harmonies of his sister, Chole. So, when combined with the subtle yet gorgeous guitar and yearning pedal steel it becomes a stunning love song. But, it's in the folk-bent acoustic song, “Keys” that Lucas' songwriting is at its best. The poignant and poetic lyrics about war are moving and thought provoking like, “My generation needed it some death/ You ain't a man he said until you've dealt some death.” It's memorable words stick with you long after listening.



Austin Lucas has what it takes to become a music legend and A New Home In The Old World is the kind of record that conceives such legends. If you have never listened to Austin Lucas, I beg you to do so now. Whether you're a country music fan or not, I guarantee you'll become his fan. - No Depression