The Lucky Losers

Arrival

MoMojo Records

The Lucky Losers are a band fronted by vocalists Cathy Lemons and Phil Berkowitz. Lemons is originally from the Dallas area where she used to run with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Anson Funderburgh. In 1987 she toured with John Lee Hooker. She relocated to San  Francisco in 1997 and recorded her live debut at The Saloon club with Rusty Zinn, Tommy Castro, and David Maxwell. She didn’t record again until 2010 when she and Johnny Ace released the Vizztone Label Group’s “Lemonace” with guitarist and co-producer Kid Andersen. Lemons third solo recording was 2013’s well  received “Black Crow” also co-produced by Andersen on Vizztone.

Harmonica ace and vocalist Phil Berkowitz has two albums of his own; 2005’s “Louis Blues: The Music of Louis Jordan” and 2009’s “All Night Party”. He has toured and performed with Billy Branch, Sean Carney, Duke Robillard, and Danny Caron before teaming  up with Lemons. Influenced by blues, Stax-styled soul and New  Orleans funk and jazz, the duo began to feed off each other and harmonize well together. In 2015 they named themselves the  ‘The Lucky Losers’ and released their debut recording “A Winning Hand” with co-producer/guitarist Andersen, once again on Vizztone. ‘The Lucky Losers’ proved that duet singing was no longer a lost art and followed-up with 2018’s “In Any Town”, 2018’s “Blind Spot”,  2020’s “Godless Land” and “2023’s “Standin’ Pat”. The ‘Lucky  Losers’ were voted The Independent Music Awards “Best Blues- Soul Artist”. Overall they are six-time Independent Blues Award- winners”.

“Arrival”, their much anticipated sixth studio album is produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Andersen at this Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California. The band lineup includes,  Lemons, vocals; Phil Berkowitz, vocals and harmonica; Chris Burn, keyboards; Simon Govan Smith, lead guitar; Edgar San Gabriel, bass; and Jon Otis, drums. Special guests include guitarist Danny Caron; producer-guitarist-bassist-keyboardist Kid Andersen; Endre Tarczy, bass; and Paul Revelli, drums. The horn section on two tracks includes Doug James, tenor sax; Mike Rinta, trombone, and horn arrangements; and John Halbieb, trumpet.

The album opens with “S-C-A-M” written by Lemons and  Andersen with the lyric “how many times have you answered your phone…get your money, get your money…how many times  have you turned on your T.V…scammed, scammed, scammed… we’ve all been scammed” with great harmonica from Berkowitz and the fabulous horn section. “Sunday Stroller” is from Berkowitz  and Caron “Sunday stroller, big high roller…learning the truth,  while playing the game…you better get out of the way”, with piano  from Burns and more harp.

Written by Lemons and Andersen “Pull on The Rope” is a political Mavis Staples-styled soul tune as Lemons chimes “I went to the well…I got down on my knees, bring me water, I’m so dry…I’m seachin’ high, searching low”, with another beautifill vocal from Lemons. On “Play It From The Heart” from Berkowitz and Burns “don’t need to play, don’t try so hard, now let it come easy, til’ it’s good and greasy, you got to play it from the heart…don’t you sit at home so blue, play it from the heart”.

On “I Believe Her (Because I Am Her)”, about the sexual abuse of young women, Lemons chants “I believe her because I am her, because some bastard took my soul…cause I cussed him out if you don’t believe what I’m telling you”, with Simon Govan Smith on guitar and Andersen on bass. “Sorry Brother” is modelled after Allen Tousaints “Hercules” and was written by Berkowitz and  Caron, “I won’t be a stranger to the dark inside, my horse is  running last, but he’s comin’ up inside…well, there’s a will there is a way…we’re gonna keep searchin’ for the rest of our days”.

“My Father’s Song” is another from Berkowitz and Caron  “cause I just can’t see what I left behind, slow and steady, I  just got to say, I have truly found my way, so don’t you worry  now, we’re gonna make it some how, it was your love that set me free”. On the funky tune “Pig Iron Tough” Lemons belts  out “what kind of tough, pig iron tough, I was walkin to school, and met a stranger, pig iron tough, pig iron tough” with  Andersen on guitar and piano from Burns.

On the Stax-styled ballad, “Don’t Let It Slip Away”, written by  Lemons and Burns, Lemons cries “hey there babe, I’ve been  watching you outside, stare’n into space, hey there baby, don’t let it slip away”, with the fabulous horn section of Doug James, tenor sax; Mike Rinta, trombone and arrangement; and John Halbieb, trumpet. “Misfit Kids” from Berkowitz and Burns includes the great rhythm section of Edgar San Gabriel, bass; and Jon  Otis, drums; as Lemons harmonizes “I got a misfit way of doing things, It’s hard to know whose pulling the strings, I’m a misfit kid, without a doubt I just can’t keep it hid”. On the closer “Ain’t The Marrying Kind” the losers croon ” I believe I’m not the  marrying kind…my last wife got my house, my soul, and took my money too…can’t marry you cause your too tough” with perfect harmony.

“Arrival” is the new breakthrough album from the Lucky Loser’s  as Lemon’s states  it’s, the most personal music I’ve ever written” there is a line in “I Believe Her (Because I Am Her)” includes the  line “who don’t believe me, my own mother”, making it the most personal song Lemons has ever sung. She adds that “Pig Iron  Tough” was a result of a childhood lost as she moved 15 times before the age of 17. For the Lucky Losers they have “Arrived”.

Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene

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