After a five-year hiatus, Uncle Lucius will release their new album Like It’s The Last One Left on Dec. 8 via Boo Clap Records/Thirty Tigers. In advance of the album’s release, the Austin, Tx. group launched a new single and video, the groovy, persevering roots ballad “Keep Singing Along.” In support of the release of Like It’s The Last One Left, Uncle Lucius will tour through the fall and winter of 2023-24, including a stop at the Barrelhouse Ballroom on Oct. 4.
Review for Uncle Lucius:
Written and recorded in the band’s hometown of Austin, Like It’s The Last One Left isn’t just a return to form: it’s an expansion, bolstering Uncle Lucius' mix of amped-up Americana and greasy roots-rock with string arrangements, adventurous production, and the sharpest songwriting of the group's career. During the years following the band’s farewell tour, their audience continued to organically grow, highlighted by the placement of their song “Keep the Wolves Away” in an episode of Yellowstone and its subsequent gold and platinum certifications. After a few years on hiatus – with a fresh outlook and a deep well of new ideas – the band members began to shake off their collective rust and blueprint songs that mirrored their career and current status, hitting on themes of resolve and resilience.
"There are no limitations this time around," says frontman Kevin Galloway. "We're exploring different areas of American roots music, and we're doing it our own way. There's a new perspective that comes with stepping away from something for a while, then coming back to it. You can see it with new eyes."
Uncle Lucius previously gained critical praise from the likes of The Austin Chronicle, No Depression, and Saving Country Music for their signature style on albums Something They Ain’t (2006), Pick Your Head Up (2009), And You Are Me (2012), and The Light (2015). But Like It’s The Last One Left is perhaps the group’s finest and most cohesive album to date. Beginning with "Keep Singing Along" — an atmospheric blast of funky-tonk anchored by a seize-the-day message that suits the band's 2020s resurgence — Like It's The Last One Left offers everything from larger-than-life anthems (the stomping "Civilized Anxiety," the heartland rocker "Trace My Soul") to laidback, loping Tex-Mex ("I'm Happy").
"Tuscaloosa Rain" channels Dusty Springfield and Burt Bacharach, complete with swooning orchestration from the Tosca String Quartet and stacked harmonies from the vocal duo US (Sir Woman, Wild Child). US also appears on "Holly Roller," a track that's equal parts roadhouse rock song and gospel-worthy freakout, while fellow Austinite Cody Braun (Reckless Kelly) plays fiddle on "All the Angelenos," a humorous jab at the carpetbaggers who've relocated to Austin in the hopes of capitalizing on the city's boom town status. Things come to a close with "Heart Over Mind," another track that balances Uncle Lucius' adventurous Americana with gorgeous melodies, symphonic strings, and the croon of Galloway's voice.