Lucero are whisky and rain. Springsteen blues and Tom Waits vignettes, Mellencamp smalltown melancholy and Steve Earle road trips all under the big sky of rock ‘n roll. They are an American band. Not Americana, but Replacements, Big Star, Goo Goo Dolls, Creedence, Dylan and Lou Reed America. They’ve been at it for years but on the new album All A Man Can Do, on ATO/MapleMusic, they’ve traded the bawdy bars for some introversion. Is there room for sensitivity on the waterfront? Perhaps only Eve Marie Saint truly knows but a love lost in LA brought songwriter Ben Nichols back to Memphis soul searching and on this ten track genre-jumping recording Lucero have created a masterpiece of subtle swagger, one which belongs on the replay shelf , the go-to shelf, the return-to shelf, the shelf that says this is grounded in the soil of the New World, rooted in the desire to be better, to know one is better and the opportunity to prove it. They do. Lucero are an American band and this record puts them on the shelf with the whiskey to be opened when it rains.

Lucero plays Lee's Palace in Toronto Oct 15 and 16 as part of the Bloor Street club's 30 year anniversary celebrations. Details here.