Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Win Tickets to Lucero at Pearl Street in Northampton on Wednesday, April 18th and a copy of their new album on vinyl and CD


To spice up your spring with some Southern twang, IHEG is giving away tickets to the upcoming Lucero show. The countrified punk band’s tour—with J Roddy Walston and the Business makes a Northampton stop at Pearl Street Ballroom on Wednesday, April 18th. 

To enter the contest for a pair of tickets and a sweet vinyl AND CD copy of the new Lucero album Women and Work on ATO Records, e-mail jneill@iheg.com with “Lucero” in the subject line and tell us who else you'd like to see play live in Northampton. That's better than answering some trivia question because it might actually make something happen! We'll notify winners by Friday, April 13th.

A product of Memphis, Tennessee, Lucero learned to embrace the classics of Southern sound from its early days, with Ben Nichols’ voice drawling over the melancholy plucks of acoustic guitars. At the same time, much of the band’s catalog highlights the unguarded energy of late-’90s punk. Really, the combination was a natural match made in heaven—the stereotypes of country and punk melding to vent riled-up aggression about lost loves and loneliness. 

Women & Work is the band’s first release for ATO Records, home to kindred spirits like My Morning Jacket, Drive-By Truckers, and Alabama Shakes, following a one-album stint with the majors for 2009’s excellent 1372 Overton Park. That was the first Lucero album to incorporate horns, and they reappear on Women & Work, the most conspicuous homage to the Memphis sound pioneered by the city’s Stax label. The press materials call Women & Work a love letter to Memphis, and the cliché fits; the album’s synthesis of soul, rock, and country is distinctly Memphisian. (excerpted from a review by Kyle Ryan of AV Club)


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