The UK roots-rock band known as Lucille have released their latest album, “The Sounds of Lucille.” The album brings seven tracks for an approximate total listening time of over 20 minutes. It has been proudly published on the band’s new label, Hoodwink Recordings, with whom they signed in summer 2014 with much fanfare. Truly rocking and rolling, shucking and jiving, “The Sounds of Lucille” is a genuine roots-rock record that exemplifies the sound that started it all long ago in the heat of the American south.
Lucille, who call Derby and Nottingham home, cite as influences B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Etta James, JD McPherson, and Willie Dixon. Their own sound is not derivative of these legends however, so much as it naturally belongs on the same shelf. Unpretentious, unfeigned, unadorned and absolutely thrilling, music by Lucille communicates to the listener the sheer joy these three young musicians feel as they sing, strum, pound and stamp their notes through the “radio” to the music fan’s greedy ears.
Speaking of their overall aims with their new album, Lucille write, “We were really keen to capture the raw and real element that made rock ‘n’ roll music so infamous, whilst writing about things that were relevant personally to us. We wanted to make a record that for us summed up the sound of early R&B and its progression into rock ‘n’ roll, and to introduce a new audience to a style of music that is a foundation for almost all modern music.”
American audiences are likely to pigeonhole “The Sounds of Lucille” as a rockabilly record, and this is not unfair – rockabilly fans will adore this album – but it belongs to a tradition that isn’t a revival the way rockabilly has come to be. Lucille play rock and roll, not ‘rock,’ and not ‘rock music,’ either. Lucille could justifiably be used in an encyclopedia as hard evidence of the continuing tradition that links directly back to Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Lucille are Scott Greensmith, CJ North and Ben Tennett. They are an actively touring and performing trio with an impressive list of venues under their belt, including Y-NOT, the Derby Folk Festival, the opening ceremony of Derby Arena and various festivals throughout the year, as well as at other such locales as Leeds, Sheffield and more. Their live shows consistently sell out. Early critical reviews of their new record have been uniformly exceptional.
“The Sounds of Lucille” by Lucille is available online worldwide. Get in early, music fans and audiophiles. Very early.
