Album Review: Lucas Hudgins – The World Left Is Mine

You won’t find soaring vocals, full-bodied production, loud arrangements, or a hint of pop on The World Left Is Mine. In fact, you’re unlikely to even hear Lucas Hudgins’ name mentioned anywhere else, but what you will find is classic country music that’s simple, but effective, from an artist whose covers of Webb Pierce and Hank Thompson are regular mainstays in his live repertoire. And while authentic country is oftentimes another moniker for bad music that can’t cut it without bashing contemporary country, Hudgins’ music stands on its own.

On the album opener, “Three Chairs,” Hudgins is found sitting in a bar with all of his friends–three empty chairs. Oblivious to reality, he buys them all a round, then invites the lonely barstool to join them in their misery–the only requirement being that he must miss the woman like they do. It’s kinda cheesy, but decidedly desperate and works to great effect. “Step By Step” finds Hudgins dancing his misery away on “the two-step plan to chase away the blues,” and “Inside It’s Pouring” is another weeper with him moping in a bar over the loss of a woman.

The only major criticisms of the album are that many of the tracks cover similar thematic territory and at times the simplicity that works so well throughout is taken a little too far. “More Whine” and “Country Song” are too simplistic and fail to go anywhere, but they’re harmless enough and considering their brevity–”Country Song” clocks in at 2:17–they make for catchy little numbers that don’t drag the album down.

Highlights include a fantastic cheating song, “Your Heart Just Slipped My Mind,” in which an unjustifiable reason becomes an unjustifiable excuse as a marriage unravels. Hudgins recounts the reasons for cheating while singing, “When your ring slipped off my finger/Your heart slipped my mind.” As a jilted lover in “The Man Who Makes Her Cry,” Hudgins wonders what makes a woman love the man that treats her unkind, but in one fleeting moment, he reveals that he’s the man that makes her cry–blink and you’ll miss it.

The World Left Is Mine is an album drenched in heartache and despair and accentuated by the wail of a steel guitar. It doesn’t have any pretensions of being deep, but revels in it’s simplicity and old school charm. Musically or lyrically, it may not be one of the best albums of the year, but it’s become one of my favorites for mastering what it does well.