Luce

Tom Luce assembled his eponymous band in the wake of recording his debut LP, which features veteran musicians from such stalwart acts as Counting Crows, Lisa Loeb, and Clarence Clemons. Luce had been attending college in North Carolina when he was compelled to return to his native Bay Area by the terminal illness of his father. He was taken in by a local patron of the arts, recording his first album in a home studio. Luce has gone on to local popularity in the Bay Area club scene, as well as securing lucrative opening spots on national tours. A major San Francisco radio station created a buzz by placing a couple of Luce's songs in heavy rotation, leading to subsequent national airplay. A contract was also inked to have one of the band's songs played in a TV advertising campaign for leather products. While Luce doesn't break any radically new ground, they feature solid musicianship and slick songwriting in the mode of adult alternative acts such as the Dave Matthews Band and Counting Crows.