In mid-March, alt-country band Lucero released “Women and Work,” its ninth studio album that, according to the band, is a love letter to their hometown of Memphis, Tenn. | Courtesy of Lucero/ATO Records
Lucero, the alt-country outfit based out of Memphis, released its ninth studio album, “Women and Work,” on March 13.
Bassist John C. Stubblefield took a moment from the band’s current tour for an interview with The Daily Cougar.
Stubblefield elaborates on the band’s label switch, the new album and his dream artist collaboration — someone along the lines of rapper Yelawolf.
The Daily Cougar:
The last record was done under Universal, and now this one is under ATO. What was the change from the two companies?
Stubblefield: With ATO being independent, they seem to understand us as a touring band and kind of where we are coming from. So, it’s a lot of a family kind of feel with everybody at the label and everything, instead of lost in the shuffle with a larger label … it seems like the start of a good relationship.
TDC: With this album you guys worked with Ted Hut as a producer. Did you choose him or was he assigned by ATO?
Stubblefield: He actually produced our last album. We kind of met him through Universal; he was one of the producers that they suggested. They said, “You could go to New York and work with so and so, or go to LA and work with so and so,” and we were, like, “Are you kidding me?” We have a world-class studio right here in Memphis.
Ted Hut, on our latest album was like, “I would love to come to Memphis and produce a record for you guys.” That is kind of how we met on the last record, and then he got familiar with the city and the studio.
After the initial relationship, we had him back, so there you go.
TDC: You did the Warped Tour and also did some shows in Europe, how was that compared to doing shows here in the South?
Stubblefield: Not to sound too hippy, but no matter where we go or what the situation is, whenever we are on stage it’s our spot and the song is our place and our home — so the place doesn’t really matter to a certain degree. We try to transcend the moment through our songs.
TDC: With that new album, like you said, you have been working with different sounds, are you planning to expand that on the next album or are you sticking to what you have right now?
Stubblefield: I don’t know, because we are just kicking this tour off, but I am sure it will progress in some way. It’s what keeps us going, you know? Reinvention to a certain degree.
TDC: You guys worked with different people on this album, but what artist would you like to work with?
Stubblefield: Actually, while we were recording the last album, Ben actually collaborated with a rap artist on a couple of his tracks. He had him play on a couple of his tracks, which were live construction tracks that we play at shows, and he was rapping over it. It was pretty fun actually.
I would love to work with, as crazy as it might sound, work with a progressive southern rap artist like maybe Yelawolf or somebody like that. We could do the backing of southern rap artists, which would be awesome.
TDC: Kind of like Blakroc, with The Black Keys working with Mos Def?
Stubblefield: Right, exactly, I would love to do something like that because it’s just so different and it would take us out of our element. Just do something crazy off the wall.
