Song Review – “Alone in Memphis” from Austin Lucas
If you need any more validation that it is a new day in music, just sit back and appreciate that one Austin Lucas—the scrappy, heartfelt, post-punk songbird who migrated south to country not for support but from passion—is now signed to the prestigious New West Records and is label mates with the likes of Steve Earle, Corb Lund, and Patty Griffin. His new record Stay Reckless is slated for release on August 27th, and can be pre-ordered now.
Preceding Stay Reckless is a song established Austin Lucas fans will already know well from his live performances, whether experiencing it with a band like Tennessee’s Glossary backing him up, or Austin simply rocking the acoustic guitar solo like nobody else can. “Alone In Memphis” typifies what makes Austin Lucas such a unique performer. You couldn’t coerce the country out of Austin’s voice for anything, and it has a smooth gentleness and a yearning that is both fragile and remarkably controlled. But Austin’s punk roots show when the song evolves into the full band concept, creating a divine mixture of influences that trace a template for how to evolve country music while still respecting its roots.
Whether electric or acoustic, Austin only knows one way to perform a song: with 100% passion, until the song’s inspiration manifests right there on stage and coats every word. Even if you hate the lyrics, or can’t connect to the story of “Alone In Memphis,” it is written perfectly to pull the emotion right out of Austin every time and spill it out amongst the audience in a moment of shared reflection and commiseration on one of the most fundamental failings of the human condition—our inability to feel stable without the company of another.
Great songwriters know how to write to their strengths, and that is what Austin does in “Alone in Memphis.”
Two guns up.
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Pre-Order Stay Reckless from Austin Lucas
TRACK LIST:
- Let Me In
- Alone In Memphis
- Four Wheels
- Small Town Heart
- Rings
- Save It For Yourself
- Different Shade Of Red
- Stay Reckless
- So Much More Than Lonely
- Gift And A Gamble
- Splinters
June 30, 2013 @ 9:28 am
Normally I’d leave it be but I find this to be so incredibly sub-par that I couldn’t let it go… Not my thing what-so-ever. And I don’t recall this accent in Bloomington.
June 30, 2013 @ 11:20 am
I respectfully disagree.
And just to clarify, I did not say he had a country accent, but a country voice. And last time I checked, they had plenty of country in Indiana.
But if this song doesn’t speak to you I respect that.
June 30, 2013 @ 7:27 pm
I wasn’t referencing anything you wrote cause I didnt read it. I just listened to the song and saw 2 guns up. Normally I like the music you give good reviews to. Much of my favorite country music that I am awate of I learned of through this website. I just part company on this guy… especially this song because it seems like a couple years back I nearly bought a track or two by Lucas but was short at the time and other stuff came along that peaked my interest. But truth is his singing turned me off completelly on this track cause he just seems, to me atleast, to be over-doing it
June 30, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
I don’t here any strained attempt a “country” accent. And when did country become synonymous with southern anyway?
Also,I don’t know anything about his family’s background, but there were a lot of people . who moved to Southern Indiana and Ohio from Eastern Kentucky 50 years ago or so, and still keep the accent. Don’t hear it here though.
Thanks for the review. I am lukewarm on this song, but glad to see him doing well and with a larger label.
June 30, 2013 @ 10:49 am
I am writing this in Natchez, Ms. I can definitely relate. I have seen Austin Lucas perform this in Baton Rouge, once with Glossary and another time on acoustic. Both times the crowd got loud when he mentioned Mississippi river towns.
June 30, 2013 @ 4:09 pm
Loved this song when I first heard a few weeks ago after discovering it in your 9 Songwriters you should know (or something like that). So I was eager to hear the studio version, and I gotta say, I like the one he’s doing in someone’s office with just an acoustic guitar. But I tend to go that way with songwriters – to prefer it stripped down. Having said that, it’s still an awesome song and one that I’ve already started to cover myself.
July 1, 2013 @ 8:26 am
AUSTIN LUCAS is one bad motherfucker – and a nice guy to boot, I’m surprised more people aren’t into it….semi-confused, is it because it sounds a little different (than most standard “country” songs)?
Check out some other songs if you didn’t like this (“go west” is a good one), I think he’s got some real / rare talent, on the same level of Isbell / Simpson / Etc that have been getting all the praise lately….I don’t get how anyone could not like it…..
But then again, Florida Georgia Line is about to take over the radio / tv so what the fuck do I know lol
Either way, regardless if you liked this song, I urge anyone who hasn’t seen him live, and likes most of the music on this site, to go out and catch him when he comes through your town – if you see him play a few songs down in the crowd on his acoustic guitar, I think you could probably be converted…….
June 30, 2013 @ 7:40 pm
Take out the steel guitar and it sounds like Train or Lifehouse. That is not a good thing.
July 1, 2013 @ 4:56 am
I was listening to the track before I started reading the comments and I was thinking, the accent seems a little “contrived” to me. The same thing that sometimes turns me off to a Hayes Carl tune. I always picture a cartoon bear sitting on a porch with a floppy hat and a moonshine jug. Maybe that’s his true accent or maybe being from another genre he thinks that’s the way Country should sound. Other than that, I like the sound.
July 1, 2013 @ 10:59 am
I’m not hearing an accent, I’m hearing a singing style and a cadence. My antennas get perked pretty quickly when I hear an artist with a put-on country voice, and it is usually grounds for immediate dismissal. It has never occurred to me that is what Austin Lucas is doing. If you talk to him personally and listen to him sing, you get the sense his voice is all his own.
As others have said, the key to understanding Austin’s music might be seeing him live.
July 1, 2013 @ 11:06 am
Fair enough, if he comes to town, I’ll go see him.
July 2, 2013 @ 6:38 pm
Maybe it is just a “singing style” but it’s not a good one. I just listened to it again to see if I was being too harsh a couple days back… I wasn’t being harsh enough. It ‘s just awful.
July 1, 2013 @ 6:47 am
Maybe he picked up the accent in Czech Republic………
July 1, 2013 @ 8:33 am
LOL I remember hearing some interview where he was talking about that sounded like a cool trip
July 1, 2013 @ 7:23 am
I think this is a very good song. Musically, I think it’s got a similar feel to Thundering Rails.
I’m not hearing much of any difference in his voice than how he sounded on A New Place in the Old World (my favorite of 2011). He’s got that “yodel like” catch in his voice, but to me, that in itself is not put on twang. Every once in a while, he does reminds me of Vic Chesnutt, like on this song when he sings “old troubadour.” Vic was a southerner, but he had a very distinct voice that wasn’t standard twang.
Another New West artist is John Hiatt. He’s also an Indiana native who is based out of Nashville. When he is between albums, he often does solo acoustic tours. He’ll typically play two or three nights at the Birchmere when he stops in the DC area. Last time I saw one of those acoustic shows, Holly WIlliams opened up for him. Wouldn’t it be great if Mr. Hiatt went out on tour with Austin Lucas opening for him. I think I lot of John Hiatt fans would love him.
July 1, 2013 @ 8:06 am
I really like this new song. I can’t remember the name of the other new one that he released, but I think this is definitely the stronger of the two.
As for his accent/singing voice, he’s been singing his whole life. His father is Bob Lucas who has played banjo for and written music for Alison Krauss, and if memory serves me right, Austin was in a boy’s choir in his youth. He comes from a strong musical vocal background. I don’t feel like his natural voice is strained at all, or that he’s trying to force it into something.
Seriously, if you get a chance to see him, do it. Also, even though he’s been slowly adding more and more electric to his albums, I think the best place to start with Austin is either the collaborative album he did with Chuck Ragan called “Bristle Ridge” (this album is one of my top 10 of all time) or his first full length The Common Cold. Seriously, this guy is a monster songwriter.
July 1, 2013 @ 9:13 am
Sounds good but I do prefer the stripped down acoustic version.
July 1, 2013 @ 10:40 am
The youtube video you posted under it is so much better than the studio version it’s crazy. I loved his last album though, so we’ll see how the rest of the songs play out.
July 1, 2013 @ 11:59 am
I like the song, like his voice, and prefer the stripped down version. In regards to his “accent” in the studio version, it reminds me of John Popper. And I mean that as a compliment – more a singing style than an accent. Having said that, as someone that catches heat for either the presence or the absence of his accent – depending on the environment, I stopped caring about a singer’s accent a long time ago.
July 2, 2013 @ 7:23 pm
I agree with the above three posters. The studio version adds so much on top it winds up adding up to less. The acoustic version highlights a far better song than I though it was first listen thru.
July 5, 2013 @ 9:01 am
This sounds real to me, just the way he sings. Not contrived or strained or whatever other adjectives some have used. (I watched a bit of 4th celebration at the Capitol and turned it offed in embarrassment seeing one of the new ‘country’ singers that American Idol has spawned).
If anyone has spent any time in southern Indiana, it’s not that far from Tennessee and borders on Kentucky and many people DO have so-called “southern” accents.
Lucas definitely does not fit the pop country mould that many are using as the measure for what is country or not country these days.
Glad to see some new talent that isn’t reality show spawned.
Thanks Trigger