Stepping out from behind the drum kit is no easy task, but Whybird Luke Tuchscherer has decided to take centre stage and show off his song-writing chops. He’s assembled quite the supporting cast, too. In addition to fellow Whybirds Dave Banks and Ben Haswell, there’s solid accompaniment from Nick Mailing, Chris Corney, Max Hart (acting as his very own Red Rhodes!) and producer Tom Peters.
As it happens, those song-writing chops of his are finely honed and the end result, You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, is a pretty impressive debut. It would be easy to tag it as being sonically reminiscent of Steve Earle or Robert Plant’s Band of Joy given they were Tuchscherer and producer Tom Peters’ reference point (not to mention the record was mastered by…
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…Jim DeMain), but the similarity is there to hear straight from the off. Mission accomplished, as they say.
As a collection of songs it not only establishes Tuchscherer as someone who can craft and arrange assuredly, but it illustrates just how brilliant a storyteller he is. The tales he weaves are those of experience and the characters who roam its 12 songs are ordinary folks with the troubles that many of us can relate to. Whether he’s singing about yearning for a soul mate and true love (Day Is Done), guilt over finding love through infidelity ((Lord Knows) I’m a Bad Bad Man) and (like on One of Us) of growing up and falling in with the wrong crowd, the chances are we have all experienced it either first or second hand.
In fact, it’s his sincerity and self-reflection that makes listening so affecting. One of the most striking being I Don’t Need You to Tell Me – a song that would fit perfectly on Ryan Adams’ Heartbreaker. Additionally, Townes Van Zandt comes to mind during (To Make It Worse) I’m Falling in Love Again and Gene Clark during closer Darling, It’s Just Too Hard to Love.
So yeah, Luke Tuchscherer’s ability to create such an engaging collection of sad songs and waltzes should ensure that “You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense” will be a contender for an appearance on any year end list.