LUCERO

It would be difficult to find a band that is more self-aware than longtime touring band Lucero. Since forming in Memphis in the late 90’s, Lucero’s base musical hallmarks have remained similar to the band’s initial sound established with their first record The Attic Tapes. In the history of their expansive discography, Lucero has evolved and embraced everything from southern rock to Stax-inspired Memphis soul, whilst simultaneously maintaining their distinctive sonic foundations. Years later, dedicated fans of the group still flock to hear the band’s punchy driving rhythms, punk-rooted guitar licks, and lyrics that evoke the whiskey drenched sentimentality of Americana singer-songwriters.

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Joelton Mayfield is a singer-songwriter releasing his debut LP, Crowd Pleaser, after nearly a decade of preparation. Raised outside a small central Texas town in a devout Pentecostal family, he led worship services as a teenager and eventually ran his church’s music ministry, all while quietly doubting his faith. Discovering artists like Bob Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, and Jeff Tweedy reshaped his sense of what songwriting could be, and he left Texas for Nashville to study music business. A plan that shifted when he switched to English, played in college bands, and drifted into the city’s indie rock and alt-country scenes.

In February 2021, Mayfield and a rotating group of musicians turned a friend’s barn near Alabama’s Mobile Bay into a makeshift studio, hauling in a Hammond organ and his grandmother’s century-old vibraphone. Days before recording began, his girlfriend and co-producer ended their relationship, sending him into a turbulent stretch that nonetheless fueled the sessions with raw urgency.

The result draws on Southern storytelling traditions and country-rock’s more subversive edges, tracing Mayfield’s path from sheltered church kid to someone reckoning with the hypocrisy and disappointment he found both inside and outside his upbringing. Musically, it bridges classic Americana with the generation of artists shaped by Wilco, Pavement, and Neil Young. In 2024, Mayfield opened shows for songwriting influences John Darnielle (the Mountain Goats) and John Moreland, aligning him with artists who confront personal darkness directly in their work.