Lucero Essentials

Lucero are of the Southern rock tradition, but they aren't bound to anyone's rules beyond their own. Like any group of good ol' boys that cut their teeth in the bars of Memphis, they have a steady hand when it comes to twangy alt-country come-ons ("Hey Darlin' Do You Gamble?") and bluesy apologies for good times that were a bit too good (“Nights Like These”). But as songwriter Ben Nichols grew interested in topics beyond Saturday night and Sunday morning in the late ‘00s, he embraced a love for noisy, Wilco-like hugs for the underdogs (“For the Lonely Ones”) and learned to give his ruminations on family and responsibility a cinematic sweep (“Among the Ghosts”).