Lunch of Champions

Austin Lucas | Putting the Hammer Down

Back in my late teenage years I had an epiphany which was this: “Not all folk music is good.” Of course, not all folk music is bad either, but it takes a very special folk musician (or musicians) to get me going. In order to catch my attention you’ve got to be really good.

So when Magic Bullet Records sent me a copy of Austin Lucas’ latest album, Putting the Hammer Down, I was a little confused. I’d only ever done one other roots music review, so it seemed like quite a limb to go out on to assume I’d be the right person to review this album.

Now I get it. This is an artist who may never really make it big, but god-damn that’s a tragedy.

It’s a very dark album right off the bat. The first song is Man Alive. It’s a song about a smoker, and really that’s about it. I never thought I’d think a song like that could be any good. It’s not vilified, it’s not glorified, it’s really just tragic.

I really hope Austin Lucas gets more notice. It seems like the kind of music that could burrow into the lesser-known celebrity area of the music scene. Tom Waits and Richard Thompson, make room at the table.