Luego

I Know, I Know, or at least so Patrick Phelan thought when he titled Luego’s 2008 EP such. After a jaunt of nine months on the road touring behind that record to little or no fanfare, the rest of his band bailed. Maybe Phelan didn’t know and wasn’t going to find out.  He was on the verge of giving up on the project along with everyone else, when in a twist of fate, he met “producer/ bassist/ shepherd” Jeff Crawford. Luego was reborn. 

Crawford was only the first in an influx of new players who would transform the band and solidify the Luego sound enough to record a debut full-length, 2009’s Taped-together Stories.  The new roster boasts the talents of Nick Jaeger (who played with Crawford in Max Indian and Roman Candle and plays with him in The Tomahawks), Rob DiMauro (of The Soulless Dogs), Cameron Lee (of Bright Young Things and The Tomahawks), Charles Cleaver (of The Firehouse Rhythm Kings, Tripp and The Tomahawks), Brett Harris, Patrick Neilson, and a host of other musicians who slide in and out of the lineup.  Notably, N.C. rock-vet Peter Holsapple (of The dB’s, R.E.M. and Hootie & The Blowfish) has taken an interest in the band, filling in at live shows and performing guest spots on recordings.  

The all-star cast of local music heavyweights is a tribute to the razor sharp sincerity of Phelan’s folk-addled indie pop. The Luego sound is the truck stop station between alt.country and power pop.  It’s a sound built on the coupling of Phelan’s incisive lyricism with bouncy arrangements, already generating buzz for the follow-up, this summer’s ocho. —Ashley Melzer