LUCERO - SHOULD'VE LEARNED BY NOW

ROUTES & BRANCHES

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music

March 2, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Raise a glass to one of the seminal acts in our kind of music. Then raise another. Heck, keep 'em coming. After a pair of darker, more personal records (Among the Ghosts, When You Found Me), Lucero have returned with a collection of songs that reportedly didn't square with the spirit of those albums. Fortunately, the stuff on Should've Learned By Now (Liberty & Lament) fits perfectly alongside the Tennessee outfit's classic earlier output. Per frontman Ben Nichols: The album is basically about how we know we are fuckups and I guess we are okay with that. 

With producer Matt Ross-Spang, Lucero have struck a satisfying balance between the spirit of those formative recordings and all that they've learned from more than two decades of studio and stage time. The title track is a fine example, boasting the youthful spit and fire with a contemporary tightness of playing and arrangement. Could do this sober, but it seems like cheating he sings on an album that is frankly lubricated with songs and stories about drinking. Listeners have come to rely on Brian Venable's rock guitar that plows through the track, juxtaposed with Rick Steff's essential piano. What seemed like a pretty good idea in Lucero: The Younger Years has become part of the band's sonic trademark. But both have learned to play, and Steff especially demonstrates an awareness of how and when to deploy his keys. "Buy a Little Time" and "Nothing's Alright" both trade in that punk-informed grit, but are also clean and well-executed. Even if they're the product of Empty hearts and blackout nights. 

"She Leads Me" demonstrates more melody than 85% of Lucero cuts. Steff's piano shows direction and purpose, and the addition of backing vocals from Cory Branan and Jesse Davis generates extra texture and dimension: Just because you might know right where you are / Doesn't mean you're not lost. Ben Nichols' writing has also matured in recent years, and several cuts on Should've Learned qualify as among his strongest pure tunes. The loping "Raining For Weeks" embraces that learned simplicity: Those tears that my eyes missed / I taste in her goodbye kiss. The kiss-off "One Last FU" rides atop a wonderful abandon, beginning with eight clanks on the cowbell, leading into Venable's sharp stabs of guitar. "Macon If We Make It" serves up a terrific story-song that likens a foundering relationship with a looming hurricane: I don't know if we were in love / I just know it wasn't enough. 

Truth be told, every Lucero record lands reliably on our year-end favorites list. But the band hasn't released a collection that has landed with such an immediate appeal at least since 2012's Women & Work. Nichols notes that these leftovers were deemed too uptempo and capering for the prior records' darker themes, and as listeners we are the beneficiaries of all that capering. Should've Learned shuts down with two especially satisfying cuts. A tipsy singalong ballad, "Drunken Moon" showcases some fine piano and organ from Steff, and another great lyric: I'd buy the moon a drink / But we both know it's time to move on. "Time To Go Home" features a refreshingly carefree musical touch, in addition to the rare shot of accordion. The song will close Lucero concerts for years to come: I'm too broke to mend / Can't seem to win / From the pan to the fucking fire. 

It's a cardinal law of rock 'n roll: Snotty-nosed punks just guessing their way around their instruments may become mature and capable fuckups with practice and time. I'll drink to that.

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Let's close this rare mid-week Episode with a visit to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster, our voracious release calendar that has been especially busy of late. A very favorite indie folk songwriter, Damien Jurado has announced a March 31 release date for the next project in his productive career. Set an alarm for March 31 and the release of Sometimes You Hurt the Ones You Hate, on Jurado's own Maraqopa label. Just about every album from Eilen Jewell is reliably stronger than the previous one. We expect nothing less with the appearance of Get Behind the Wheel via Signature Sounds on May 5. Rodney Crowell's forthcoming CD will feature production and instrumental contributions from longtime fan Jeff Tweedy. Chicago Sessions has been slotted for a May 5 release (New West). Come May 19 Milk Carton Kids return with their first collection in 3 years. I Only See the Moon will arrive bearing the Far Cry Records logo. Finally, Bonny Doon stock began to rise with their stint touring in support of Waxahatchee. They'll return to music of their own with Let There Be Music (Anti, June 16). 

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