Luke Tuchscherer - Always Be True

by Malcolm Carter

published: 18 / 7 / 2017

Label: Clubhouse Records
Format: CD

intro

Second solo album from former Whybird and Bedford-based Luke Tuchscherer which goes far beyond the UK Americana sound he’s known for

The second solo album from former Whybird drummer Luke Tuchscherer, shows the Bedford-based singer/songwriter has an uncanny knack for writing songs that are not only instantly appealing but also so melodically rich you’ll find yourself returning to them time and again. While Tuchscherer pines in the opening cut that he "gets the boot more often than a helping hand”, the song ‘Waiting for My Day to Come’ isn’t the downer that the title or lyrics would have you believe. And while his press release mentions that Tuchscherer’s influences are Steve Earle, Tom Petty and Uncle Tupelo even that doesn’t do the songs on ‘Always Be True’ full justice. While it’s no real stretch to hear those mentioned influences in Tuchscherer’s second collection of original songs, there’s more going on here. There’s something familiar about his vocals but it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where you’ve heard it before. On some of the songs there’s a slight Springsteen feel but that’s not in his vocal delivery. On ‘These Lonesome Blues’ Tuchscherer takes ‘Half the World Away’, drops all the usual Oasis traits and turns it into an alt-country workout. And therein lies the beauty in Tuchscherer’s work; it’s familiar but still fresh, it’s as though he’s studied popular music since the 1970s and put his own stamp on all the most commercial country-infused music we’ve heard since then. It would seem that Tuchscherer is fully aware of this; on ‘Outside, Looking In’, he confesses that “sometimes in bed I can hear a sound/Echoing from somewhere high above this town” and later that he can “hear the guitars strumming but I can’t get there/I hear the pedal steel/I hear the mandolin/But I’m on the outside looking in.” That point could be argued, as Tuchscherer is definitely not an outsider. The music he makes is commercial, intelligent pop music with country leanings, immaculately produced by Tom Peters and played superbly, and he’s got BJ Cole on pedal steel and dobro on the album. Enough said. The centrepiece of the album is the seven and a half minute ‘When the Dream Dies’. Taken at an almost funereal pace, it’s only three verses long but each verse cuts to the bone; on reading a letter left to the protagonist he “went into his daughter’s room to see if it was true/And saw the empty cot/What do you do when the dream ends?” After Tuchscherer has ripped your heart out with lines like that delivered in his world-weary voice we’re left with some restrained Crazy Horse like guitar work-outs to let the message really sink in. Given the space to let the music take over and expand on the lyrical content makes the listener wish that Tuchscherer had included more of this type of song on the album. While all ten songs are excellent there’s not a second wasted, not a moment that the hurt doesn’t seep through in this epic song. It leaves you breathless; one can only wonder how Tuchscherer and his band mates felt after putting this song down. The following, jaunty ‘Be True’ a country sing-along love song feels like it’s been placed there almost as an apology for the previous track being so moving. While far from filler it simply doesn’t have the same effect as ‘When the Dream Dies’ or even the song that follows, ‘Amanda Jane’, another lost love country-infused track but yet another song where Tuchscherer’s emotive vocals can’t fail to impress. But in the unlikely event that you’re still breathing and ‘When the Dream Dies’ didn’t touch your heart, the closing cut, ‘A Song For Jack Brown’ will surely leave you in pieces. Telling the story of a 21 year-old man who seemed to have everything to live for and was popular but who felt this world wasn’t for him anymore,i it’s a fitting end to the album. Lyrically it shows how astute Tuchscherer is once more - “You hid your demons oh-so-well/But don’t you know you had a friend, who’d have followed you to the gates of hell/Then brought you back again?” before informing the friend he lost “the local bar has named a drink for you//Brother now can you believe?”, a reminder to all that we should maybe be more aware of what those we care for are going through before it’s too late. Despite some heartbreaking lyrics the music that Tuchscherer and his expanded group of musicians make (The Whybirds reunite on two of the songs here) remains positive. Even ending the album with such a sad song leaves the listener just wanting to hear more of the same and not in the least depressed. And that’s testament to the talent that is Luke Tuchscherer.

Track Listing:-

1 Waiting for My Day to Come
2 Don't Put Me Out
3 These Lonesome Blues
4 Outside, Looking In
5 When the Dream Dies
6 Be True
7 Amanda Jane
8 Love Don't Come Easy
9 No One Did It Like Us
10 A Song for Jack Brown

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/luketuchscherer
https://www.facebook.com/LukeTuchschererMusic

Label Links:-

http://www.clubhouserecords.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/ClubhouseUK
https://www.youtube.com/user/ClubhouseRecordsUK1
https://plus.google.com/113129166479954909557