Twenty-five years and eleven studio albums after first playing together, the members of the Memphis-based alt-country favorites Lucero are still exploring their sound. Sure, they know what they’re capable of: They’ve charmed crowds at dive bars, theaters, and festival stages alike with their signature high-energy blend of country, punk, alternative rock, and soul, while their most recent two albums—2018’s Among the Ghosts and 2021’s When You Found Me—gave glimpses into the band’s stripped-back, atmospheric side.
Out this February, Lucero’s twelfth album, Should’ve Learned by Now, leads the group back to its gritty, rollicking roots. “It’s an appropriate title,” says frontman and songwriter Ben Nichols. “There are plenty of things we should’ve learned by now—I don’t know what they are, but we haven’t learned ’em yet.”
While the new album takes on a more lighthearted tone than the band’s most recent work, the track “Raining for Weeks,” which G&G is proud to premiere along with its accompanying video, still tugs heartstrings. “Lyrically, it’s about a rainy relationship, where one person is disconnected and unaware of what they’re doing to the other person and doesn’t realize the damage until it’s too late,” Nichols says. That ballad-like melancholy falls into equilibrium over jaunty piano, Nichols’s tenacious vocals, and old-school guitar drones. “[Norman Greenbaum’s] ‘Spirit in the Sky’ was kind of the reference for us,” he says. “I just love that feel.”
Listen to “Raining for Weeks” below. Should’ve Learned by Now is out on February 24 and available for pre-order here.
