Lucero Unplugged – Ben Nichols and Rick Steff
Truth be told, I didn’t expect to like Lucero’s new, unplugged album as much as I do. Acoustic records can be a pleasant listen – and a nice (and often necessary) influx of cash for a band between projects – but don’t typically offer any new perspective. However, when Ben Nichols decided to take the best of his quarter-century (!) worth of songs into producer Matt Ross-Spang’s Memphis studio, he made one key decision which renders Lucero Unplugged a standout acoustic recording – he asked the band’s longtime keyboard player to tag along. Rick Steff’s gorgeous grand piano lines add a simple sort of depth (and, sometimes, a needed counterpoint) to Nichols’ woebegone tunes. It’s a quiet listening experience that draws deeper attention to Nichols’ lyrics, reinforcing what an ace songwriter he can be.
The easy chemistry on Lucero Unplugged isn’t just a happy accident – Nichols and Steff have toured these songs in an acoustic setting. That rapport is evident from the album’s first track. “In Lonesome Times,” from the band’s 2000 debut The Attic Tapes, pairs Steff’s gentle balm of piano line against Nichol’s rasp, singing of being “worn out/To feel this low down.” Steff steps out a bit more on the percolating “That Much Further West,” contributing a lovely solo to the erstwhile indie rocker from 2003.
But let’s not allow my adoration with Steff (seriously – dude looks like an extra from Sons of Anarchy, but also happens to have a fascination with vintage synths) distract from an enhanced appreciation of Nichols’ songcraft. Sonically, Lucero Unplugged could be a companion piece to Nichols’ 2009 solo album, The Last Pale Light in the West (also featuring Steff), which was inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. While that record recalled a desolate, decaying American West, this album contains Lucero’s bread-and-butter subject matter – the continuing fuck-ups of a grown-ass man. Whether it’s the heartache in 2003’s “When You Decided to Leave,” addressing depression in 2000’s “Hello Sadness,” or finding himself as a father who’s also (by necessity) never home – “I wonder if she knows/The first word she said to me was goodbye” – in 2018’s “Among the Ghosts,” he has an innate ability to casually drop a phrase rife with devastation. Nichols has also joked that he’s not a particularly gifted guitar player, but he displays some of his best work on the gut wrenching “Darby’s Song” (2002). Fan favorite “Nights Like These,” from 2002’s Tennessee, contains my all-time favorite Lucero line – “She had a weakness for writers/And I was never that good at words anyway.” Just like with his playing, Nichols sells himself short, and the sparse nature of Lucero Unplugged shows off his bona fides as a very gifted Southern writer.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Diamond State Heartbreak” – This callback to the band’s 2000 debut contains a typically gouging Nichols lyric – “I don’t want to see you crying like that/Not when you’re the one who broke my heart” – and a jaunty barroom piano solo from Steff, with Nichols encouraging him to “keep it going.” Fun and soul-crushing, all in under three minutes.
Lucero Unplugged was produced by Ben Nichols and engineered and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang. Musicians include Ben Nichols (lead vocals, acoustic guitar) and Rick Steff (grand piano).
Go here to order Lucero Unplugged (out January 24): https://lucero.merchtable.com/
Check out tour dates here: https://luceromusic.com/tour/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Lucero “Should’ve Learned By Now”
