Brent Lundy

Thirteen might not be considered a lucky number, but for Columbia musician Brent Lundy it’s as lucky as he’s been in a while — hence the naming of his new acoustic band, Lundy and the Lucky 13.

The name refers to the number of original songs in the band’s live set, many of them dating back to Lundy’s early days in the local music scene with God’s Comics and The Ultraviolets.

“I’m done waiting on other people and outside forces to allow me to play my own music,” Lundy says. His electric band, Lundy, had gone as far as recording a full-bore power pop album in Los Angeles — sessions that included former Jellyfish member Roger Manning — but those songs have been in a kind of limbo.

“We were working with a small record label on that, but they ran out of money after the songs were recorded,” Lundy says. “They are going to let me release it eventually.”

For now, however, he is fully committed to a more relaxed and rootsy vibe in his live shows.

“I picked myself up and just started playing more acoustic shows and put together this group of musicians specifically to do more stripped-down versions of some of my own songs that I haven’t really been playing for the last five years,” he says.
“It’s definitely a reaction to that full-band album, and it’s a great way for me to get back to my roots.”

A veteran of mostly sports bars and chicken wing joints for the past decade or so, playing classic rock covers for thirsty, indifferent patrons, Lundy is making up for lost time on his original music through online outlets and social media.

“YouTube is how it’s done these days,” Lundy says. “It’s to my benefit to have the songs and performances out there for people to see. I think I’ve gotten farther with YouTube and Facebook, having that interface with listeners, than with anything else I’ve ever done.”

It helped him get this gig, too: The manager for opening act Breaking Laces, a Brooklyn-based power-pop trio, saw one of Lundy’s videos and suggested they play together.

Lundy credits one local fan and fellow musician with providing the inspiration for keeping an older song in the set.

“I had given up on playing ‘Bottle Rockets’ [a song originally recorded by The Ultraviolets], but I was contacted by Dean Alexander [Triggerfish, Volley] and he asked about it,” Lundy says. “He took it upon himself to look up the original recording online somewhere and do a re-arrangement that he sent to me, which totally changed how I look at it as a song now. It’s one of the 13 in our set, definitely.”

Lundy is sticking to acoustic guitar in his new combo, flanked by Joe Jacobson on keyboards, Jimmy Branham on drums and Paul Russo on bass. It’s a stripped-down sound that allows Lundy’s naturally soulful voice to stand out, and the keyboards give it a classic Muscle Shoals kind of feeling. There are plans to make a live recording of the new group in the very near future.

“It has been fun, putting this together and playing these songs again,” Lundy says. “I’m getting lots of great feedback and just having a good time.” - LundyMusicProductions