We had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with the Roots legends Uncle Lucius at their show in Nottingham the other night. Check out as we chat about their tour, latest album and future plans!

How would you describe your sound?

I’ve always said American Roots, it’s kind of a big umbrella. And then now they’re trying to label that Americana, which is also a wide umbrella. But I understand people need to, especially with the commodification of music, put it in plain sight.

Yeah, there’s that many different sub-genres these days!

Exactly! And our influences are just from American roots. Country, blues and soul and all that!

And how’s the tour gone so far? Australia first, right, that looked cool!

Yeah, it was really cool! Around the World in 30 Days! And we’re almost finished, it’s been great!

It sounds a little stressful but fun!

You know you’ve got your ups and downs when you tour this much! The 15 hour drives aren’t the best. The travel from Australia to Europe was really bad. It was 30 hours travelling with that one.

Is this the first time in the UK for a while, then?

It’s the band’s first time in eight years. But it’s good, the crowds are actually showing up, which is very surprising!

Are there any differences between the crowds over here compared to back home?

I like it over here. A lot of people get it! And the same in Australia, as well. Talking to the people that come out to the shows, a lot of them are into the same people that we’re into. They’re asking us about Guy Clark and Kris Kristofferson… that’s who we love, it sounds like we’re a lot alike! It’s the same over here.

I’d say attention spans are… better, over here! I’m not gonna judge that but…

Yeah, a few of the people I’ve spoken to from the country scene (like Randall King!) have all said it’s a lot more standing and listening here!

Yeah, back home it might be like half the crowd on their phones or talking, the other half yelling and hollering!

And it’s been a couple of years since you reunited, right? How’s it been so far?

Yeah, we reunited in March of ‘23. Overwhelmingly positive, it’s been great!

Was it always a goal to write new music when you came back, or was it more coincidental, you sort of fell into it?

When we got back together for the first time it was religious to hang out, just to see each other! After the second time we got together and hung out we said, with the placement of one of our songs on a big TV show, and a spike in overall numbers for a lot of the songs, it was like well, it might be fun to play some gigs. We didn’t really think past that.

When we started hanging out more it was like, we really should make an album. Our original bass player had a bunch of songs he had written, and he showed Kevin, who was really down to sing them. And we were really down to play them. So the album is a mixture of his songs and Kevin’s songs, and Mike and Doug and… it was just a really good vibe! It was not something that we planned to do at all, it just felt like the right thing to do.

Is there any comparison you can draw between this new stuff and your older material?

I’d say it’s familiar to what we’ve always been, but also think it mirrors all of us evolving as musicians, and as people. Maturing with age and having done other projects when we were off for five years. We’re all just better, honestly!

Is there any more songwriting going on already?

Oh yeah, no doubt. I think we’re about to work on the next one. I have quite a few I’m gonna present, and there’s others that other guys in the band have written, that’ll all get put on the table and we’ll get a feel for it.

It’ll happen soon. We’re all pretty anxious to get back in the studio. Making the last one was a lot of fun, and super easy. You get older and you learn how to get your brain out of the way and just play. Cooperate a bit more!

And you’re pretty busy in the coming months too, right?

Yeah! When we get back we’re gonna do a Midwest run, from Kansas City up to Chicago and back. That’s in like two and a half weeks. We’ll have a little bit of rest in between. Then a bigger US tour in February. Staying busy!

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of?

I’d love to open for the Stones, man. And there’s still time!

There’s just so many. And that’s one of the best parts of getting to do what we do, is playing shows on the same stage as some of our hero’s, and actually getting to hang out with them or sometimes play songs with them. It’s amazing. I hope it happens a lot more!