Austin Lucas

Austin Lucas launched his career performing in punk outfits before pursuing a path as a solo performer steeped in the country and folk traditions that shaped his earliest tastes. Following time spent in Twenty Third Chapter, Rune, and K10 Prospect, he issued his debut solo effort, The Common Cold, in 2006, shifting toward unplugged textures steeped in bluegrass. He has since split his years between his native Indiana and the Czech Republic, occasionally exploring country-tinged rock on releases such as 2013’s Stay Reckless while concentrating primarily on reflective folk material, a thread that reached its peak with 2018’s Immortal Americans.

Born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, Lucas grew up with father Bob Lucas, a working musician who handled guitar, banjo, and fiddle, cut multiple solo albums, belonged to Eclectricity, and penned material recorded by Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, and the New Grass Revival. From his father the younger Lucas absorbed harmony singing, and he spent six years as a member of the Indiana University Children’s Choir. During his teenage years he gravitated toward punk rock and joined several bands in succession, playing bass in Twenty Third Chapter between 1997 and 1999, fronting Rune from 1998 to 2000, and handling lead vocals plus guitar in K10 Prospect from 2000 to 2004. In the final year of that last group he began commuting between the United States and the Czech Republic before settling in Prague in 2004, where he joined Guided Cradle on guitar.

While based in Prague, Lucas renewed his connection to the American roots music of his upbringing and began working with fellow songwriter Chuck Ragan. He recorded The Common Cold as his first solo album in 2006, followed in 2007 by a split single with Ragan and the full-length Putting the Hammer Down. The 2008 collaboration Bristle Ridge with Ragan appeared alongside the solo EP At War with Freak Folk. After the solo albums Somebody Loves You in 2009 and A New Home in the Old World in 2011, Lucas signed with New West Records; his initial release for the label, Stay Reckless, favored an energetic blend leaning more toward country and rock than folk. By the time he finished 2016’s Between the Moon and the Midwest, he had moved back to Indiana after confronting divorce and struggles with alcohol while living in Prague. Now sober, Lucas composed material that examined both his own life and the difficulties facing his hometown, resulting in 2018’s Immortal Americans, which he co-produced with Will Johnson of Centro-Matic and which Steve Albini engineered.