Hello Reader,
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A band that isn’t tied down to one musical genre but is probably best introduced to new listeners as southern or blues rock musicians from Austin, Texas known as Uncle Lucius are back with a new album Like It’s The Last One Left with a December 8th release date. Those two genres are a good place to start but as you listen, you’ll find more genres and subgenres to describe their musical sound.
This is their sixth album release: Pick Your Head Up (2009), And You Are Me (2012), The Light (2015) and in between those studio albums, they interlaced two self-released live albums; Live At The Saxon Pub in 2010 and Live At Grady’s 66 Pub in 2014. The band was one of Austin’s most sought after during those album release years and saw themselves touring locally, regionally, nationally and even to Europe before stopping performing music as a band in spring of 2018.
Why now? “After ‘Wolves’ went gold, we got together at a fancy steakhouse in Austin to celebrate and tell old stories. We started to ask ourselves, ‘Should we reconsider this?’ The iron was hot, and we knew we had more music to offer,” frontman Kevin Galloway recalls talking about song “Keep The Wolves Away,” appearing in the well-regarded neo-Western series Yellowstone and going viral after bringing the interest of new fans. For context, the band’s original Vevo video for the song on YouTube has 144 Million views as of this publication date. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching it after this review.
The new album, Like It’s The Last One Left sees long-time Uncle Lucius bandmembers Kevin Galloway, Michael Carpenter (guitarist), Josh Greco (drummer), and Jon Grossman (pianist) working together again. Co-founder and former bassist, Hal John Vorpahl reunites with the band, this time as producer and songwriter. Galloway was complementary of Vorpahl saying, “He’s like the silent seventh member of the band now.” Joining long time band members are guitarist Doug Strahan and bass guitarist Drew Scherger.
Full disclosure: We were not compensated for our thoughts; all thoughts are entirely my own.
Some hype videos,
The opener “Keep Singing Along”, with a beautiful ride within Austin, Texas video:
(All credits and rights to Uncle Lucius)
Life in a huge city, “Civilized Anxiety”:
(All credits and rights to Uncle Lucius)
Contributors to the albums sound are:
- Kevin Galloway – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Michael Carpenter – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals
- Josh Greco – drums, percussion, vocals
- Jonathan Grossman – piano, keys, accordion, vibes, organ, vocals
- Doug Strahan – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Drew Scherger – bass guitar, vocals
- Tracy Seeger and Andrew Corral – violin
- Bruce Williams – viola
- Matthew Gustafson – cello
- Kelley Mickwee – backup vocals
- Alice Spencer – backup vocals
- Hal Jon Vorpahl – bass guitars, guitars, keys, percussion and producer
- Cody Braun – fiddle on “All the Angelenos”
As with several previous Uncle Lucius albums, Like It’s The Last One Left continues the use of songs about places. Texas and Los Angeles are the most featured. To me, upon several listens, this album is a return to form for Uncle Lucius. Long-time fans, is this their best offering yet? The album seems to fit right in amongst their discography. There is formidable songwriting, outstanding and confident vocal delivery from Galloway and the backup singers and band on each song they perform. There are plenty of catchy refrains and beautiful musical instrumentation on every song. A lot of guitars, drums, piano/keys but also well-placed violin, viola, mandolin, percussion when needed. The album features variance amongst song styles; some anthems, some rockers, some more laid-back melodies. The album flows extremely well from song to song. Hal Jon Vorpahl seems like he was an integral part of the process of making the album even better.
The opening song “Keep Singing Along” kicks the album off with a funky melody and sentiment from the lyrics that entrench the album as a formidable force. The lyrics maintain an optimistic outlook of persistence.
The second song, “Civilized Anxiety” is drum heavy and driving guitar beat, with well-placed piano, and repetitive refrain creating an anxious mood. The lyrics are about the stressful LA environment, transitioning well to the next song. “All the Angelenos” is a tongue in cheek, humorous tale of the literal migration that’s occurred in the past few years, away from LA to the bands native Austin, Texas. The refrains truly drive the song home.
“I’m Happy” is a song with a slower beat than any song before it on this album. The beat is one you could have a lovely slow dance to. The lyrics speak of contentment.
“Tuscaloosa Rain” has a melody, beat and vocal delivery that will remind some listeners of Burt Bacharach. The song is not meant as a homage to his style, but it is a song with a melody of years gone by. It also has a Soul sound. And stunning background choral vocals from a choral duo. The lyrics talk of escaping to clear the mind and of acceptance of the situation.
The fifth song on Like It’s The Last One Left, “Love In Kind” features lovely, layered vocals. Plenty of twang, and guitar. Lyrics that share of a perfect pairing, both in proximity and need.
“Holy Roller” kicks off with driving bass drum and guitar sprinkling in some piano and electric guitar. It is blues rock. My first listen reminded me of The Doors Morrison Hotel (1970) album as this song could fit in. There are lovely choral vocals from the same vocalists in “Tuscaloosa Rain,” to end the song. Lyrics are about invoking religion in a time of need.
“Draw the Line” is an instrumental song that features acoustic guitar from start to end and a few other instruments. This is the only instrumental song on the album.
“Trace My Soul” is a great balance of changing sound to create a memorable melody. The song starts with guitars and drums but soon changes to just organ and vocals by Galloway. The organ fades and dynamic guitar and drums kick back in. Then the guitar and drums fade and the organ kicks in for a moment. A short time later, the organ fades again and we’re back into dynamic guitar and drums. There are some great solos in this song. The lyrics tell of someone that wants their story to be uninterrupted and true.
The album closing song, “Heart Over Mind” opens whimsically melody with assured vocals by Galloway and strong string musical instrumentation. Galloway’s strong vocal delivery with lyrics that give helpful advice about pace, smelling the roses.
Like It’s The Last One Left gets 4 out of 5 Scum Drops from me. It’s a very good album. Well above average relative to other albums released in 2023. Perhaps their best album yet. The songwriting stands out as does the musical instrumentation. Nice pairing vocals use of choir on several songs as well. The melodies are well performed, feature memorable refrains and are varied throughout the album. Excellent sonic quality and album production. I would recommend adding this album to your collection.
Like It’s The Last One Left Tracklist (song time)
- Keep Singing Along (3:22)
- Civilized Anxiety (4:14)
- All the Angelenos (3:01)
- I’m Happy (3:40)
- Tuscaloosa Rain (4:34)
- Love In Kind (2:52)
- Holy Roller (4:45)
- Draw the Line (1:21)
- Trace My Soul (3:50)
- Heart Over Mind (4:39)
total run time: 36:18
For more of Uncle Lucius please check them out here: https://www.yourunclelucius.com/
Thanks as always for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
