There’s something commendably old-school about Uncle Lucius. Holding close to the tenets of southern rock, the Austin quintet offer a mostly unreconstructed take on classic American roots music. It is, after all, clearly what they do best.
This is the kind of insouciant bluster that only comes through a decade of diligent roadwork, locking into grooves on cue and meshing roughhouse guitar and piano into an edifying country-rock hybrid. Gulf Coast Gypsies may carry an echo of modern types like Sons Of Bill, but Uncle Lucius sound altogether meaner.
Frontman Kevin Galloway has a sandpaper-ish quality to his voice, bringing added edge to the title track and the Memphis R&B of Age Of Reason, which feels like it might’ve been recorded in an old bordello. Meanwhile, there’s a whiff of Blackberry Smoke about the marauding End Of 118, offset by the more reflective Tom Petty-isms of Someday Is A Far Cry.
