Lucero: In the saddle

Lucero

Lucero

Lucero singer/songwriter Ben Nichols remembers his first musical moment.

"It was from my dad's 45s," says Nichols. "'Rockin' Robin,' you know that song? When I was about 4 I had one of those rocking horses with the springs? I would put that song on and ride that rocking horse. There was something about it that was just awesome. You know that feeling that rock 'n' roll gives you? That 'I-wanna-take-on-the-world' feeling? I maybe didn't understand it at the time, but I definitely felt it. That was the beginning."

What came after was Nichols pursuing music in his native Little Rock, Ark., and then moving to Memphis at the age of 21 where he met fellow musicians with whom he formed the punk band Lucero.

Through the course of a decade the band expanded its style into something that might only fall under the nebulous titles of "roots music" or "Americana." After releasing eight independent albums, Lucero recently signed with Universal Records and released the album "1372 Overton Park" in October.

"We've been doing things our way for a long time," says Nichols. "The deal that Universal came to us with was really reasonable. We got a lot of independence, which was really important to us. Maybe there's a little more red tape to deal with and they're not really throwing a lot of money around. Nobody wants to spend much money, but maybe we can do more satellite radio, maybe a late-night television show, maybe get songs in a few more movies or TV shows. ... There might be a few more doors that will open that wouldn't without Universal."

The album has already become the group's most critically acclaimed and one that has stretched the group.

While the band was preparing demos for the new album, one member suggested that a buddy who was a saxophone player come sit in to see what horns sounded like in the mix. The player was Jim Spake, a longtime music veteran who had played with some of the greats of Memphis soul and R&B, as well as younger artists who wanted a touch of Memphis magic. When Spake added his contributions to some of Lucero's music the band members' reaction was universal.

"We were just blown away," says Nichols. "We were just immediately, 'We need to go in that direction.'"

The result was an album that injects a Memphis soul vibe into the group's sound.

The band is now touring with a horn section, which, says Nichols, is great.

"Playing rock 'n' roll with a horn section turns everything into a party. It makes the slow songs really soulful and it makes the faster songs really fun."

In early 2009, Nichols released his first solo album, "Last Pale Light in the West," which was inspired by Cormac McCarthy's novel "Blood Meridian."

"I re-read the book a while back and there's just a lot of good lines in it - lots of stuff I wanted to steal," says Nichols. "So I guess I made a concept album. Each song is based on a character in the book. Everything was kind of acoustic and it had a theme so it worked outside of the Lucero spectrum."

The book is probably the bloodiest and most violent of McCarthy's works, but Nichols found something special in it.

"The way that certain lines in a song will grab you - there were certain lines in that book that just grabbed me ... I thought it was just brilliant. I loved the whole idea of it."

Nichols says he doesn't expect to get rich with any of his music projects. He and the rest of the band simply, "take it as it comes."

"When this band first started we lived together for a long time, shared expenses and lived in the same house ... I've been living really cheaply for the entire existence of the band. If you want to make more than $20,000 a year you better do something else. But, to me, it feels amazing to make that!"

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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