Austin Lucas - Southern Indiana Hills and House Shows

I’ve been to a lot of house shows over the last nine years that I’ve been in Bloomington. Sometimes these shows are incredible and fill me with hope for the future of local music in this town. Other times they make me wonder why I didn’t stay home and finish whatever movie Comedy Central is playing, e.g., Coming to America, and enjoy the musical flourishing of Sexual Chocolate instead of braving the rain. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Austin Lucas, with the help of Mark Allen and Mike Hale made it worth getting a little wet and reminded me that, as the fictional Randy Watson once sang, the children are indeed our future.

My friend and I got there shortly after 8pm and I was pleased to see I appeared to be in the right place, based on the number of snap-button western shirts similar to the one I was wearing. Smokers lined the wall of the apartment outside and leaned on the railing, while sipping on cans of PBRs and waiting for the show to begin.

When Mark Allen started playing, it became apparent that the freedom to smoke squares was probably not the only factor keeping music fans outdoors. Collective body heat was a driving force as well. Over the course of the evening, we discovered there were three distinct temperature settings at this residential venue. There were the “ass-freezing” seats on the deck, the “sweaty-ass” standing room inside, and “breezy, comfy-ass” standing right inside the door. We tried out all three, starting with “sweaty-ass” accommodations before we discovered the other two.

Mark grabbed his guitar labeled with the admonition to the undead, “This machine kills zombies” and started in on some dark, crooning ballads. I’m not sure if it was the energy in the room, or the closed-in space, but after the first two songs the living room was swelteringly hot. We stepped out onto the more ideal spot on the patio and were able to listen to Mark through the open windows. He sang about zombies, substance abuse, and unrequited love with equally convincing sentiment. Subtle humor showed through in his songs as an appreciative chuckle came in response to the line “the booze in me was the only thing attracted to you” in the song “Beastmaster.” There wasn’t the usual crowd drift that comes with opening acts. The fans stayed with him the whole time. This zombie slayer, with his tunes of folksy fantasy, was the perfect introduction to the stark country music to follow.

Austin took the living room floor with Mike Hale, after a brief break that followed Mark’s set. The two started off with a harmony and seemed to step on each other a couple times, but pulled it together by the end of the song. They had just finished a European tour and then a turkey dinner at Austin dad’s house, and the time spent working together became evident throughout the rest of the set. They took turns supporting the other’s individual music. Mike’s music is a whispery, sort of slow-tempo rock-n-roll, while Austin has more of a traditional country sound. They complemented each other well. One would sing back up for the other, or play guitar while the other sang, and vice versa.

Audience participation started early in the set, when the duo played “Go West,” an impassioned break-up song from one lover to another, from the most recent Austin Lucas release Somebody Loves You. The crowd was pleased and sang along, while doing a bopping move that supplants dancing, when in tight spaces. The pleasure that registered in their faces is something you don’t see on such a majority of fans at other venues, either because of lighting or indifference. In any case, these folks were feeling it.

Four songs into the set, they performed “Fountain of Youth” that was written by the once-local musician Aaron Stout, who passed away in February of this year, and is also covered on Somebody Loves You. It’s a touching song about appreciating life, and regretting the moments when you don’t. Austin spent a little time talking about Aaron and explained that while no one can be blamed for not hearing of this artist, they can be blamed for not checking him out from this point on. *This sentiment has been fact-checked and verified to be true by the author. Check him out.*

The music and the fan participation continued in the following songs. Handclaps and group singing helped accompany a song about leaving California. Mark Allen joined back in to assist with some vocals and vocal harmonica, to everyone’s delight, on “Wash my sins away.” Austin returned the love to the listeners near the end of the night by playing requests for the last few songs of his set. He noted that this was the biggest crowd he has ever played for in Bloomington which is a shame considering his music is considerably better than half of the music packing people into local bars.

The back and forth between the crowd and Austin made it apparent that no matter what houses he plays during their east coast tour, Bloomington will always be his home.