News | Lucero - Part 2

Announcing “Should’ve Learned By Now”

Should’ve Learned by Now was written in bits and pieces over the last few years. It’s a collection of (mostly) upbeat rock and roll songs that didn’t fit the thematically darker two previous albums, Among the Ghosts (2018) and When You Found Me (2021). On those records there was no room for anything that wasn’t super serious. If it wasn’t intense and brooding it had to be set aside…

But finally, all that fun stuff has a home! It’s time to get these songs out into the world! That’s how we got to the appropriately-for-us-titled album Should’ve Learned by Now. The album is basically about how we know we are fuckups and I guess we are ok with that.

Hope you enjoy it!

Pre-order the album HEREListen to the first single “One Last F.U.” HERE

Announcing ‘When You Found Me’

When You Found MeI wanted a very classic rock sound for this album. I wanted it to sound like stuff I heard on the radio growing up. I didn’t want to make a retro record at all, but I did want to reference some of those sounds and tones and moods. I think we struck a nice balance between nostalgia and something that still sounds like contemporary Lucero. The album was recorded over two weeks in July (we wore masks the entire time) at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, TN with Matt Ross-Spang.

My daughter is four now and I’ve been reading her a lot of fairytales at bedtime. Consciously or not, that seeped into my songwriting process on “When You Found Me”. This album has a lot of me and my personal experiences in it, but the lyrics aren’t as directly first person as they’ve been in the past. I like to think the lyrics on “When You Found Me” have a more storybook quality to them. “Have You Lost Your Way?” with its young heroine, is written to be exactly like a fairytale or fable. Then the second song, “Outrun the Moon”, is a more modern take on the same type of story. “Coffin Nails” is about a banshee, and “The Match” is based on an old Irish folktale. “Back in Ohio” is based on a true story that reads like fantasy. I love drinking whiskey in bars and singing songs about heartbreak and lost loves, but it was nice to incorporate some other interests and themes and elements into these lyrics.

We hope you enjoy.

Pre-order the album HERE.
Listen to the first single “Outrun the Moon” HERE.

Listen to single “Outrun the Moon”

“Outrun the Moon”, like some other songs on the new album, has a young girl as the main character. I think the fact that I spend a lot of my time now with my young daughter is showing through in some of my songwriting.

I’d been toying around with writing murder-ballads for a project Memphis filmmaker Mike McCarthy is working on. I ended up using some of those lyrics as a starting point for “Outrun the Moon”. The lyrics don’t spell out exactly what happens, and I like that, but the lyrics give you enough to know the girl can take care of herself.

I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Southern writers like Larry Brown in the past and this song continues that tradition. I had Brown’s novel “Fay” in the back of my mind as I wrote this. The song is not based on the book or anything, it was just an inspiration. Also, I think this song has my favorite Brian Venable guitar solo ever. – Ben

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/urd8U1rsR4M

Virtual Lucero Family Christmas is here!

We’ll be streaming from
Sam Phillips Recording
Dec. 19th at 9 pm CT! With special guest
L.A. EDWARDS

GA & VIP tickets on sale now at https://noonchorus.com/lucero/
Package options include a t-shirt, t-shirt & screen print poster, and – for a very limited time – a handwritten lyric sheet from Ben featuring your choice of song.
See y’all online!
[Presented by
Bitchin’ Sauce