You can probably remember the first time you heard Lucero.  Maybe a friend played it as you took a long drive across the country, the melancholy hurt of My Best Girl pouring out of the radio as you looked off into the night.  Perhaps you heard the sound of guitar and strings played over the din of a crowded bar, and you craned your neck to hear what the distinct voice of Ben Nichols was singing, which suddenly seemed much more important than anything else.  Or maybe you’re just from Memphis, and you’ve known for the past decade-plus that these guys can rock just as much as they can break your heart.

In either case, Lucero is a force to be reckoned with.  Each song sounds like a personal memory sung through the lens of Memphis Tennessee.  Each lament feels like it’s your own.  Nichols and company have that power—to make you feel along with them, and sing along with them too.

We’ve been trying to get them on the site for a few years now, and we were thrilled when our schedules finally aligned just a few weeks back when they came through Boston.  As luck has it, the tour manager knew one of the owners of Good Faith Tattoo Studio across the street from Paradise, where the boys were playing.  So we met over there to film a few songs.  While John, the bassist, got a brand new tattoo in the next room, we sat down with Ben and Rick and got a few songs off their latest, Women and Work, along with a great version of Shelter, the song Ben wrote for his brother, director Jeff Nichols’ film, Take Shelter.

First up, the title track from their latest, Women and Work:

Next, a video we don’t think you’ll find anywhere else, Shelter:

And finally, Juniper:

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