The Lonesome Heroes

The Lonesome Heroes: “Placebo Sun”

It’s nifty how different sorts of sporty recreation mingle with specific subgenres of music; think surf, skate punk, or yacht rock. But since you can also just longboard down the access road, sippin’ Ocean Spray to some classic Fleetwood Mac without a care in the world, the rules clearly aren’t hard and fast. What’s most important is the meditation in motion, a flow state inspired by the movement of the music itself.

So even though roller skating may be most closely associated to disco (at least historically speaking), there’s an Austin outfit putting those trucks on a whole new set of wheels. That’s The Lonesome Heroes, who’ve endured the rinks of the local live scene (and far beyond) for nearly twenty years now, weaving between the best parts of indie, country, and Americana. Most recently, this veteran quintet scored another milestone with their sixth LP Seasons Change, which has already racked up some impressive streaming numbers in the short time since its November release.

And in line with frontman Rich Russell’s decision to open up the record’s writing process to a few Austin friends, these hometown heroes are lookin’ a little less lonesome in the album opener “Placebo Sun”‘s new music video…as a matter of fact they rounded up a whole roller posse to kick off their boots and strap on some skates! To fully soak up the authentic cosmic Americana radiance of “Placebo Sun”, you’ll have to keep The Lonesome Heroes company 10PM tonight at Hotel Vegas ahead of Alien Eyelid at 10:45, Shinglers at 11:30, and Automatic Weekend half past midnight, no paddling, skiing or interstellar travel required…maybe just a show-stealing, shot-bombing pooch.

The Lonesome Heroes: “Cloak And Dagger”

Compared to other genre pairings, indie and country typically don’t get corralled together, but they’ve made for some successful formulas in the past, perhaps most notably with Band of Horses. A good representation of those crossroads here in Austin is The Lonesome Heroes, a “cosmic Americana” quartet whose cornered their sunny, acoustic sound over three full-lengths and one EP since 2006.

For their fourth LP, Rise & Fall, The Lonesome Heroes returned to Jim Eno’s Public Hi-Fi studios, where a new batch of tunes was mixed by Brad Bell and produced by steel guitar master Gary Newcomb. Rise & Fall drops June 24th, and The Lonesome Heroes play at White Horse with Croy & The Boys and Jake Penrod on Thursday, April 21st ahead of a May residency at Lustre Pearl South. Marvel’s Morbius hasn’t been staking their desired box office numbers and maybe it’s best to give some attention to a homegrown vampire story instead. So sink your teeth into the music video for today’s clandestine indie-meets-country cadence, “Cloak And Dagger”.