My first glimpse of Austin Lucas was as a memorable guest on the Revival Tour. When a minor player stands out among the trinity of Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichol and Tim Barry, you know he’s something special.
The indie circuit’s peppered with lots of hip young bucks flirting with the twang. But if you generally dig that hybridized sound, as I do, the purity of this Midwesterner’s voice will put you in a spell. It’s one of the most pristine exemplars of country music’s honeyed heartbreak in ages. Making it cut even deeper are echoes of bluegrass and gospel. Lucas’ expression twists with a suffering and divinity seldom seen beyond the pew. He accomplishes this nice little trick by tapping the deep emotional well of country music without stooping to cheap bathos, a trap that claims not only the stylistic tourists but virtually the entire sitting Nashville establishment as well. The result is the powerful intersection of pain, beauty and authenticity.
Austin Lucas, descendant of a family from Indiana to whom making bluegrass and folk music comes as natural as breathing, escapes his environment by throwing himself on punk and hardcore music. Participation in a row of obscure bands leads him to the Czech republic in the end. He performs solo and plays in the Orc-core group Guided Cradle. To everyone’s surprise he arrives at the family’s gate with the announcement that he wants to record a cd. The furniture of the living room is pushed aside and exchanged for a tangle of amplifiers, boxes, microphones and miles of cables. Father Bob is a complete band by himself and sets himself behind the mixing table. playing banjo, violin, ukelele, guitar and sings in the background. His sister Chloe Manor sings a few duets with Austin and quadruped Flicka growls and rhythmically scratches the itching spots on her body. Surely the lyrics Austin wrote for the eight songs do itch as well. The carefully cultivated crust of our society is blown to smithers with the stroke of a sledge hammer. Like an americana punk variation on Kafka alienation and general collapse of modern mankind are put into strong lyrics, and all of this in a voice that tears open the earth. Between the opening chorus My breath is a hammer/ My insides are taxed like an anvil/ My heartbeat’s a tremor/ And I have not love but for nicotine and the closing verse I was cursing the flaws of my ignorance and youth a textual and musical zenith in light music unfolds in our still so young century.
-koos gijsman, heaven magazine
I’ve been a music journalist for more than 10 years. Over the years, many artists and managers have asked me what the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Publish artist press releases, news, and tour dates to the CountryHome Forum on MySpace, http://groups.myspace.com/CountryHomeMagazine , CountryHome Forum is part of CountryHome, http://www.CountryHome.de , Germany's Premier Country Music Online Magazine. Everything you publish to the CountryHome Forum will be published in my weekly Newsletter which has over 80,000 readers.
Send me CDs and DVDs for review and set up an artist interview with me. All reviews and interviews will be submitted to the magazines I'm writing for. More information for which magazines I'm writing can be found at http://www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Upload artist videos to http://www.MyVideo.de and http://www.ClipFish.de . Both websites are like http://www.YouTube.com and uploading videos is free. The websites are completely in German. If you don’t speak German and need assistance, I will help you open an account and upload a video for 25 Euro. Each additional video upload for the same artist name and at the same video website is 10 Euro.
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany
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Oh man, in two days I'll see the Hot Water boys in the Garage in Saarbrücken .. so excited .. but I'm still sad that you couldn't perform there when I met you with Saint Chuck in May 2008 .. Come back !
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