The Memphis, Tennessee based band Lucero has billed their latest album, Women & Work, as a love letter to their beloved home town. The 15 year old band, initially a punk outfit, have largely set aside their punk influences, and focus on bluesy roots-rock, with gruff vocals, and elements that put Memphis on the map (trumpets, organ, country influences, gospel). The band recently signed to ATO records making this their label debut, and while a love letter is nice, this album falls into the mix, undistinguished from your average rock today.

If anything has remained of the original band, it’s the gruff punk-ish vocals, which actually bring to mind such New Jersey staples as Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. In fact, Springsteen comes across a great influence on this album; the track, “Who You Waiting On” feels like it could have fit on any of Springsteens newer stuff. Despite the similarity, the album wears a Memphis musical suit and wears the hell out of the style, but it rarely goes out of it’s way to be experimental, or give you something a little more than Memphis stereotypes.

That’s not to say that there aren’t a few stand out tracks; “Like Lightning” is a rip-roaring track, with some old-timey piano, that will have you on your feet dancing. The song has a touch of The Gaslight Anthem on it, blending those past influences with that gruff vocal. While the last song, “Go Easy” does follow the fold, there are great gospel elements that pop up here, which has to make you wonder, why now!, when it could have made great appearances earlier. “When I Was Young” is the albums stand out, it lives up to it’s influences more than any other track, but more than that, evokes an emotion that makes you believe in why the band recorded this album in the first place.

This is the kind of album that makes a great companion to drink to. While it’s not full of background music, and at times it is seamless, the overall atmosphere of the record is fun. I can see myself in a bar, drinking some lager, and singing to this music. Not in a karaoke sense, but in a bar room sing-along. If this is a minor detour for a wonderful band, so be it; music evolves as much as bands do, and if this is their first misstep, they can only improve upon themselves from here.

Album Rating: Stream It or Digitally Download It (Legally of Course)

Listening Co-efficient: Background Music

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