The Lonesome Band

The Lonesome Band offer a rambling road song, packed with highway logic and rode-hard guitar fuzz, as album opener for their debut, Running Alone. The track, “Agree to Disagree” follows a drum roll into a celestial grudge match that settles the score with a late night jam. The Lonesome Band chase a wild guitar strum into “Love I’ve Never Known”, letting gentle guitar and pedal steel riffs mask the indecision between stay or leave. The band dials through static to find a clear signal with a Ghost Riders groove with “Heading There Myself”, and join unite their instruments in a mighty rhythm line to clear a path through the title track for a ‘welcome home’ before stretching out the sound and letting in fall in waves as an exit.
The Lonesome Band started as a goal for duo, Anthony Lucio and Sam Whips Allison. Anthony’s plan was to write 100 songs in a year and begin performing. They kept goals on track added drummer (Miguel Gilly) and bass (Barrett O’Donnell), and set up base in Austin, Texas. On paper, The Lonesome Band are in the Alt Country camp yet that limits the full frontal electric guitar chord slashes that set the pace for “Home of the Free” as it fans a fiery fiddle to ignition, and the honky tonk on tilt that gives it up for a “Woman Who Can Shoot”. Running Alone seeks to grant wishes for The Lonesome Band as the guys “Make ‘Em Dance” and gives country a little western as they ride a range trying to outrun “Uncle Sam”.
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Austin’s The Lonesome Band proudly classify themselves as Texas Cosmic Honky Tonk Country, and this is a pretty damn accurate label. The group embraces the progressive country sound that helped put the “Live Music Capital of the World” on the map, bringing to mind troubadours like Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keen and early Steve Earle. Since getting together in 2013, the group has been quickly making a name for themselves with their rowdy, spirited live performances that have folks all over Texas dancing up a storm. Unlike the mindless pop “country” fodder that pollutes the airwaves these days, The Lonesome Band manage to make well-written, thoughtful songs that can still keep a dancehall going all night long.

After playing live so many times, the band decided to harness that same energy in the studio, and the result is their debut album Running Alone, which drops May 12th. It seems appropriate that a band who honed their skills on the stage rather than in the studio would have a tune called “Make ‘Em Dance” on their record. In describing the tune, the band says it’s “a cheerful, call-and-response song that is engaging and makes the listener want to tap their foot. The song tells the story of a young man’s journey to honky tonk stardom.” On how this catchy as hell song came together, the band offered some insight, pointing out that “Make ‘Em Dance” was “the last track that we decided to record. It was one of those songs that we forgot we ear marked to check out. Once we pieced the song together, practically in the studio, it came together really well and we felt like it was a standout track. Also, ‘Make ‘Em Dance’ really keeps people energized and engaged during our live set.” - Glide Magazine

For sounding like a bunch of hillbillies there’s a lot of art in The Lonesome Band’s past. Lead guitarist/ vocalist Sam Whips Allison met kindred spirit Anthony Lucio when both were studying at the Art Institute of Austin. They became a songwriting team and did a two year stint as the house band at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. It doesn’t get much artier than that. The Lonesome Band that now includes bassist Barrett O’Donnell, Miguel Gilly on drums and Dan Johnson on pedal steel have just released their freshman studio album. The liner notes thank the usual family and friends along with The Great State of Texas. No surprise then to see a track titled “Uncle Sam.” It’s about that big conflicted relationship Texas has with Washington D.C. but sung from the perspective of a victimless criminal on the run. “I aint running down this old country/ But I sure hate when it catches up with me,” Allison sings. He only answers to his father, not Uncle Sam. “Home of the Free” cranks it up another notch. We learn that Lexington and Concord wasn’t the “original” home of the free, it’s actually Texas. Even if you don’t share this Lone Star state jingoism, “Running Alone “is a terrific listen. The sound channels a 1960s Louisiana Hayride country music-on-the-TV vibe through 21st century hipster insouciance. The result is a lot of fun. Allison’s vocals in large part make the album stout as it is. He’s not a pretty singer.

Allison’s voice is what you hear in the muffler shop, workingman’s lunch joint or hollering at the umpire at a kids’ baseball game. It has genuine appeal on songs such as “Love I’ve Never Known” and “That’s Just Me.” He sounds like the kind of guy who “…Hits rock bottom, But still stays solid.” Allison’s vocal register may be ragged but the soul you hear is smooth.

The music throughout is an attractive blend of rock guitar and damn fine twang. Chojo Jacques’ guest fiddle on “Agree to Disagree” threatens to swipe one of the band’s signature tunes. If you’re aiming to cuddle up with some new backwoods boys The Lonesome Band wants to be friends. - The Norman Transcript

For the past couple of weeks I've been fixated on the debut album for the Austin based The Lonesome Band. Titled, Running Alone, this all original album sounds a bit like Hank III, a bit like Robert Earl Keen, both backed by a jam band. The Lonesome Band consists of Anthony Lucio (guitar), Sam Whips Allison on lead guitar, Barrett O’Donnell on bass, and Miguel Gilly on drums. On the album, the band is augmented by Alex McMahon (pedal steel), Chojo Jaques (fiddle), and Larry Eisenberg (keyboard).

It was the drum beats (actually Bill Payne on the album) on the opening track - Agree to Disagree - that captured my attention. Then I noticed that the vocals sounded a bit like Hank III, with the storyline reminiscent of REK. But it was their rockin' jam band sound that kept my attention. Check out that lead guitar; Danny Gatton would be proud. Other REK-like tunes are Halfway There (perhaps my favorite track), Love I've Never Known, and Make 'Em Dance. That's Just Me is another great song with excellent instrumentation as is Running Alone, where the jam band really comes alive. And they wouldn't be a Texas band without a waltz - The Lonesome Waltz. These guys need to come to Hill Country BBQ or Gypsy Sally's. Pair with Austin's Uncle Billy's Brew & Que, located just over the river from 6th Street. Cheers. - My Joog.com

Austin-based The Lonesome Band dubs itself a Texas cosmic honky tonk country band. Originally established by guitarists and audio engineers Anthony Lucio and Sam Whips Allison as an acoustic duo, the band grew out of Lucio's challenge to himself to write 100 songs in 365 days. A year later, he and Allison began performing at open mics in Texas and New Mexico. The band has since added drummer Miguel Gilly, songwriter Barrett O'Donnell on bass, and Dan Johnson on Pedal Steel and released its first studio project, Running Alone (May 12, Ice House), an apt introduction to the band. To best capture the sound, Lucio and Allison put their engineering backgrounds to work; Lucio describes the resulting album as "a little bit rock, a little funk, and a whole lot of country." And while the album was recorded in Santa Fe, "Home of the Free" is an ode to Texas with its "beaches and brisket, whiskey and women," while "The Lonesome Waltz" oozes Texas dance hall. - Texas Music Magazine

Running Alone, the first studio project from The Lonesome Band, is a solid collection of 11 songs from a good young bar band with its mix of country, rock, and funk. The opening “Agree to Disagree,” with its country attitude, Sam Whips Allison’s raspy vocals, and the not quite country-punk instrumental takes is a good introduction to the sound.

The best song, though, may be “Make ’em Dance,” that tells a story of a young whose father called him wild, who left town and got himself a hillbilly band. The songs tend to deal with love and second chances,independence and rebellious attitudes, and even a bit of Texas jingoism.

The band is Allison, Anthony Lucio, Kevin Rowe, Bill Payne, Alex McMahon, Chojo Jacques, and Larry Eisenberg. Allison and Lucio, both with audio production degrees from the Art Institute of Austin, began as a duo after Lucio won his own challenge to write a hundred songs in one year. - Buddy Magazine