2014 - Luke Tuchscherer
& The Little Red Recording Company
By Phillip Smith;
June 7, 2014
Alt-rock
drummer Luke Tuchscherer of the Whybirds, has ventured out with a
little help from his friends, to record a dozen wonderfully written and
beautifully performed treasures on his debut album, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense. Its title so aptly named after a book of
poetry by Charles Bukowski, the album
consists of extraordinary songs about ordinary people with ordinary thoughts
and problems, performed in an alt-country, rootsy story-teller fashion.
Tom Peters keeps a steady bass drum
beat running in the background, while Chris
Corney tackles dobro and banjo, accompanying Tuchscherer who plays acoustic guitar on opening track “(Lord
Knows) I’m a Bad Man” about infidelity and maneuvering around the guilt-filled
baggage tagging along. I love the thick swampy sound the dobro and banjo bring
to the song. This one is definitely one
of my favorites.
Tuchscherer shows off his song-writing
chops on “One of Us” as fellow Whybird,
Dave Banks joins in with both mandolin
and banjo. Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, comes to mind when I hear
this poppy bluegrass tune that tells the despairing tale of an innocent youth
from a broken home and the twists and turns which will lead him to a gangster’s
life of crime.
I
love the ironic way Tuchscherer can set
lyrics seemingly delivered by a henpecked, sad sack drunk directed at his nagging
fishwife, to such a pretty melody. This
song of self-awareness, pent up feelings and unconditional love, “I Don’t Need
You to Tell Me” features Edwin Ireland
on cello and Zoë Robertson on both
violin and viola.
Tuchscherer walks a fine line between alt
country and coffee-house rock. I hear a
lot of influence from The Traveling
Wilburys, as Tuchscherer sports the
songwriting skills of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, and possesses a voice that is
somewhat of a cross between Roy Orbinson
and Jeff Lynne. With credentials
like that, you can’t go wrong.
