Luke Powers is not your ordinary Nashville songwriter. A PhD in English
from Vanderbilt University and MA in Folklore from UNC, he writes in the
tradition of William Blake as much as Bob Dylan. Smart, quirky, offbeat, at
times haunting--usually in 3 minutes or less.

Kakistocracy (2006), a collaboration with Austin-based producer-musician Tommy Spurlock (Rick Danko, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, The Band), received wide airplay and trong critical reception from the likes of Stewart Mason (AMG), Kathy oleman (About.com) and Vin Scelsa (Sirius Radio’s “Idiot’s Delight”). 

If Kakistocracy (gov’t by the least competent and honest) looked outward at
the dysfunction of contemporary America, Picture Book, Luke's latest
collaboration with Spurlock, looks inward and back at Luke’s upbringing in the South.  The Americana collection features the legendary Garth Hudson of The Band, Anthony Crawford (Neil Young, Black Hawk) and Luke’s brother Sam Powers (Superdrag, Guided by Voices).

Randy Hardison (Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack) plays drums. The CD
is dedicated to Randy, murdered during the making of this record (his tragic
story was profiled on CBS’ 48 Hours). Rather than find another drummer,
Luke and Tommy decided to leave drums off the remaining tracks. No one
could match Randy‘s grace and groove.

The semi-autobiographical songs range from the haunting (“Cece’s Song,”
“Northern Lights”) to the quirky pop cultural (“I Saw John Kennedy Today”
and “Cover Song (for Sgt. Pepper)” both of which have received international
airplay and been widely downloaded). “Ghost of the Cherokee” and “Driving
with My Demon” look back to Luke’s childhood on Signal Mountain, TN.

Picture Book is Luke's personal Songs of Innocence and Experience—a “picture book” of snapshots of his past. As he says, “it's sorta Townes Van Zandt meets James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” The songs are evocative and elliptical, telling the tale of Luke's upbringing in the South. The songs are about one kind of love or another: kid love, big love, family love, wrong love. The songs are set in the southern mountains, from forests haunted by Cherokee ghosts to a confederate graveyard where kids sneak off to make out.

The semi-autobiographical songs range from the haunting (“Cece’s Song,”
“Northern Lights”) to the haunted (“Ghost of the Cherokee” and “Driving
with My Demon in the Deep South”).  

The collection also folds in Luke's development as a singer and musician. “The Cover Song (for Sgt Pepper)” is a child's meditation on the famous album cover. “Mr Yeah Yeah Yeah,” co-sung by Tommy, is the emotional flipside: Luke's fictional encounter with an over-the-hill singer-songwriter clinging to past glories.

The final song “Tommy's Goin' Home to Texas” brings the album home, literally. It recounts the loss of Tommy's beloved train-car studio and features Garth Hudson's spectral piano. The song so touched Tommy and Garth that both shed a tear during its recording.

Past and present also meet in “I Saw John Kennedy Today.” The song, downloaded over 5000 times as mp3 file, is based on Luke's own JFK siting—driving a pickup truck. In the course of the song we learn that Jack faked his own death in Dallas so that he could be free to drive the backroads of America ever since. The song has been covered by songwriter Ralston Bowles in a production by former Lone Justice bassist Marvin Etzioni.

A MUSICAL ODD COUPLE

Luke Powers is a college English professor with degrees from Vanderbilt University and the UNC-Chapel Hill. He attended the latter on the prestigious Morehead Scholarship. He has published poetry, fiction and scholarly work (particularly on Folklore).

He is also a songwriter, having collaborated with Earl Bud Lee (“Friends in Low Places”), Mark Collie and Marcus Hummon (hit writer for The Dixie Chicks, Rascal Flatts). Luke has also written and recorded with his brother Sam Powers of the powerpop band Superdrag. Luke's songs drew the attention of Brian Ahern (legendary producer of Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Johnny Cash, et al), who secured publishing rights on Luke's work.

Through Ahern, Luke met Tommy Spurlock and a musical odd couple was born.

While Luke lived a quiet family life with his wife and two young children, Tommy had taken up residence in a converted train car studio that doubled as his bachelor's pad. “The Train” (not a boxcar, Tommy was quick to point out, but a fully-customized1952 Pullman Porter cab) was located behind Nashville's Cummins Station. Here Tommy recorded acts including Rick Danko, David Olney, Chip Taylor, Marshall Chapman (and an early incarnation of Old Crow Medicine Show). When Tommy was not producing, he was a sought-after session- and road- musician working with acts ranging from George Jones, Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash to alt-rockers such as The Derailers and cult favorite Jon Wayne.

Luke knew almost nobody in the music business; Tommy seemed to know everybody. Luke was primarily a writer, Tommy a musician. Luke was even-keeled, Tommy could get “passionate” at times. Luke had quit drinking; Tommy, well, Tommy drank.

But somehow the opposites forged a strong working bond than produced Picture Book as well as other collaborations. In 2002 Tommy produced an album of Luke's songs sung by Sandy Madaris. Way Back Home (Waterline Records) received critical acclaim and wide airplay in both the U.S. and abroad.

Nikki Rossiter (rambles.net) has praised Luke's writing: “the CD contains songs that, with time and exposure, could become folk music of tomorrow.

Stacy Board (themusesmuse.com) said, “Powers is a versatile writer. He evokes moods in which I can imagine Maria McKee and Lone Justice working up a sweat over, then he’ll hand you a slow ballad perfectly suited to a voice like Emmylou.”