Austin Lucas Brings Great Songwriting, Rock Music to White Water Tavern

by Julian Spivey

Singer-songwriter Austin Lucas brought his terrific brand of Americana (I’m going to call it Americana, but Wikipedia has him listed as folk-punk) to White Water Tavern in Little Rock on Wednesday, March 13. The White Water Tavern has been Lucas’ Little Rock home performing spot for a decade, where he performs to a small band of mighty followers and a few additions to his fan-base.

Americana seems like a fitting genre for Lucas’ music has it encompasses folk, punk rock, heartland rock and country music. Basically, there’s something in Lucas’ sets and repertoire for everyone to enjoy and his songwriting, especially on his latest release 2018’s Immortal Americans, is among the best in his field.

Lucas began his set, which would last around an hour on Wednesday night, with the title track from Immortal Americans, which is my favorite song from Lucas to date (it ranked in the top 10 on this site’s 100 Best Americana and Country Songs of 2018 list). It’s a heartland rocker that reminds me a bit of my all-time favorite singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It also has the feel of some of John Mellencamp’s best work – Lucas and Mellencamp both hail from the Bloomington, Ind.

Lucas can flat-out rock and you see his punk influences on performances like “Let Me In” and “Thunder Rail,” but his absolute highlight of the night was his quietest moment because in addition to being a rocker Lucas also has one of the most beautiful vocals you’ll ever hear and it’s almost operatic on 2018’s “Shallow Inland Sea.” Lucas invited everyone in attendance to come right up front to the small stage at the Tavern and stepped out in front of the microphone with just an acoustic guitar and let rip one of the most beautiful performances I’ve ever seen at any live show. It was magical, especially when joined by two of his bandmates for wonderful backing vocals.

More highlights of the show included the one-two punch of “Unbroken Hearts” and “Ain’t We Free,” which are standouts from his 2016 album Between the Moon & the Midwest, which was the album that first introduced me to his music.

A couple more great performances from Immortal Americans on Wednesday night included “Killing Time,” which Lucas said was about getting high, and “My Mother and the Devil,” which includes one helluva chorus and some interesting musical choices that completely work for the song.

Lucas wrapped his show with audience favorite “Alone in Memphis,” one of the best rockers in his discography. He would once again step out in front of the microphone giving the audience a more intimate performance and a bit of a sing-along toward the end of song where everyone sang the chorus in unison.

Lucas’ show on Wednesday was a short and sweet representation of one of the finest singer-songwriters currently touring these smaller venues like White Water Tavern around the country. I feel like he’s one of a handful of artists within the Americana community that is just waiting to break out a bit more – some of his songwriting reminds me of Americana’s brightest star Jason Isbell. If you aren’t familiar with him yet, hopefully you’ll soon be and I’m sure White Water Tavern will be seeing him again real soon as he seems to have a great affinity for the venue.