Another sign that Lucy Michelle has grown up from the cuddly, young, ukulele-playing folk-pop singer that won the City Pages Picked to Click poll in 2008, she and her band have dropped their old moniker, Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles, and will simply be known as Field Trip from here on out. The name change follows bassist Jesse Schuster's emigration to full-time status in the flourishing Caroline Smith's band, and the departure of guitarist Matt Latterel to pursue his own music.
"With the four remaining members we realized we wanted to move on," Lucy wrote in an email to fans (and press), "but staying the same without those players was not an option."
It also comes less than a year after Lucy released a Lapelle-less solo album, "Attack of the Heart," a American Songbook-influenced set with New Standards mates John Munson and Chan Poling as her chief collaborators. Lucy said she found herself "writing more music on guitar, but this time on electric" after the solo album. Sounds like it'll be an about-face in direction as well as monikers. She will try on another musical hat -- a cowgirl's -- in the country edition of her annual Valentine's Mix Tape concert Feb. 14 at the Cedar Cultural Center. One more big change for Lucy: She's also an expecting mother.
Here's a taste of what to expect from Field Trip courtesy of videographer Trent Waterman and "North Shore Sessions."
