How you respond to Lucero, a band whose latest, "Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers," comes off as the work of a Springsteen covers band, hinges almost entirely on whether you are moved by tough guys huskily belting it out to show how tender they really are, that well-worn gruff-but-sweet sound seeming to be the only vocal stance in frontman Ben Nichols' repertoire. The songwriting itself is as unimpeachably decent as it is undeniably derivative.
-- T.B.
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