Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts
On their 2020 self-titled debut album, Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts served up a compelling blend of rock, folk, country and blues while taking listeners along on a soul-searching journey through the eyes of singer-songwriter Rick Wagner. “Great stories about wisdom gained from hardscrabble living, similar to Ray Wylie Hubbard, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt,” noted Americana Music Show. Wagner’s honest, plainspoken lyrics came straight from the heart with a nod to Outlaw Country’s founders Willie, Waylon, Johnny and Kris, delivered in a warm, gravelly voice that American Songwriter says “hits with a cool sincerity that is a genuine rarity in the modern musical landscape.” The songs dealt with traditional country music themes like lonesomeness, heartache and, of course, drinking. But make no mistake -- this is by no means a traditional country act.
The genre-busting sound is taken a step further on the follow up album Moment Of Truth. The opening track “America’s Moment” is a sparse, cinematic instrumental reminiscent of Ry Cooder. It sets a somber tone for an album rich with ethereal guitars, atmospheric strings, and a wide range of emotions and lyrical themes. But the mood quickly changes with the next track “Long Way To Go,” a mid-tempo, optimistic tune that is a blue-collar testament of perseverance with a shout-out to the great Texas singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard. “Ray is one of my musical heroes,” says Wagner. "He's also the king of name checks in his songs. So I figured turnabout is fair play.”
The bluesy “Guilty” offers up a bit of twang as Wagner tells the tale of two people hopelessly in love. The hypnotic “Most Of The Time,” a cover of a Bob Dylan song from his 1989 album Oh Mercy truly captures the essence of this long lost Dylan gem. The track caught the attention of Rolling Stone when it was released as a single in May 2021, hailing it a Song You Need To Know. It’s clear by now that Dylan’s influence is the bedrock of Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts’ sound. The haunting, brooding rendition of this Dylan masterpiece sits nicely beside Wagner’s contemplative, nostalgic, hopeful and tenderhearted originals that make up the rest of the album. A stark profession of love (“Before I Stop Loving You”), lamenting the loss of innocence (“Take Me Back”), melancholy dreams (“Hold On To Your Dreams”), the political divide in America (“Alamo Way”) and being down but not out (“The Rest Of My Days”) are a few of the topics Wagner writes about on Moment Of Truth.
The album concludes with the somber “Heartbreak Lullabye,” a song Wagner wrote as a tribute to another one of his heroes, John Prine. “The morning after John Prine left us I was sitting in my studio, alone with a guitar and a melancholy feeling,” says Wagner. “I started fingerpicking in a very Prine-ish way and somehow I summoned his spirit." The song’s soft, lilting feeling effectively captures the surreal sense of life during Covid as Wagner reflects on what we had and what we lost in the pandemic. It features some tasty guitar work from Matt Wissler, who also adds mandolin to a few tracks.
The band's thrid album Let The Light Back In will be released on April 19, 2024. After two melancholic album tinged with heartbreak and loss Wagner seems to have found inner peace, exemplified by the title track, which recounts a man’s spiritual transformation in a rousing, gospel-influenced song about redemption and rebirth. As the album ebbs and flows, Wagner connects images from song to song, and is at once direct and enigmatic on songs like “Can’t Catch The Wind” and “Ghosts On the Boulevard,” which finds him going back to his hometown only to be disillusioned by how much has changed as he sings “now there’s a vape shop where the record store used to be/ nothing aches like a memory.”
Let The Light Back In opens with a superb cover of Tom Petty’s “Room At The Top.” Although once described by Petty as “one of the most depressing songs in rock history,” Wagner finds a different interpretation. “To me it’s about escaping from the things that might be bringing you down, getting to a peaceful place where you can forget about all your troubles and life's challenges. It’s about finding inner peace.” says Wagner. The sentiment is similar on “Lost In The Rye,” another song about escapism and holding onto the innocence of youth. Guitarist Lance Doss, whose credits include John Cale and the Sidney Green Street Band adds lap steel, giving the track an atmospheric flavor. Doss slide guitar prowess is evident as he leans in a bit more on “Ain’t Nothing Good About Goodbye,” an upbeat rocker about two lovers trying tirelessly to keep it together despite their differences. “Black and Blue” is a riveting narrative about racial discrimination set to a raw blend of ethereal, bluesy guitars, synths and a hypnotic beat featuring background vocals by Brandi Thompson (Brandi and the Alexanders). Wagner's warm, raspy voice is in full force on “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” a timeless, soulful ballad best known by Otis Redding’s 1965 version. The oft-covered song lands squarely in the hands of Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts, capturing the nuance of the original Stax recording. As the album concludes the sound becomes increasingly more intimate with a pair of stripped-down, live-in-the-studio recordings; “The Rest Of My Days” (originally released on Moment Of Truth) featuring Doss once again on lap steel, and Wagner solo on a new, Neil Young inspired original called “Coming Home.”
Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts are based in Maplewood, NJ and are led by singer-songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist/ producer Rick Wagner, who left the small town where he grew up on the outskirts of Scranton, PA for the bright lights of New York City in the early 1980’s. Soon after, he began playing bass with the influential alternative rock band The dB’s, landing a major label record deal, touring incessantly and sharing stages with REM, Alex Chilton and The Replacements. Over the next 40 years he continued to rack up touring and recording credits with bands including The Silos, Paul Collins, Swales, Emily Duff, The Cucumbers and Storytown, as well as playing in dozens of bar bands. “I’ve always been content to be ‘just the bass player.’ I don’t mind lurking in the background, digging into the groove and getting lost in the music,” he says. “But one of the side effects of working with so many great songwriters is that little by little that rubs off. Now it's my turn.” His journey from a tiny Pennsylvania coal town to Greenwich Village to the New Jersey suburbs has had more than a few ups and downs, but he has lived to tell the tale. His story of perseverance can perhaps best be summed up in the chorus of “59” from Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts’ debut -- “I’ve been soaked by the rain/ been baked by the sun/ I’ve been cut and bruised, been royally screwed/ But my will can’t be undone/ I’ve travelled over mountains/ And I’ve crossed the seven seas/ It took 59 years getting here, and I ain’t about to leave.”