“Arrival is beautifully executed blues with plenty of soul and a taste for funk in many of the arrangements.  It’s also feeling like it should be on my year end best of 2025 list.”

- John Kereiff, The Rock Doctor’s Hot Wax Album Reviews, Nov 3. 2025

 “The Lucky Losers hold little back. This is one of the more expressive, personal blues albums heard recently. The carefully crafted Arrival will surely gain considerable airplay and acclaim.” - Jim Hynes, Rock & Blues Muse, Nov 2025

“’I Believer Her (Because I Am Her”),’ a gripping statement on childhood sexual abuse, was written by Lemons, who experienced it herself as a youth...the lyrics and her vocal performance are searing in their intensity…. Hopefully, Cathy Lemons and Phil Berkowitz can keep it together long enough to entertain blues fans with even more of their wonderful music. Arrival is their best effort, their most personal and their most entertaining, with stellar performances by all involved.” – Graham Clarke, Blues Bytes, Nov 2025

Each is a singer of prime time talent, and while they can play blues until the sky turns green, what the group really does is find a way to sound like themselves. Cathy Lemons is funky as a chicken pen, but she also can put on her high-heel sneakers and go out walking tall. And so can Phil Berkowitz. He is the perfect complement to Lemons, and neither ever turns to anything but cool originality to get their feelings across. -Bill Bentley, Americana Highways, Dec 2025

Rock solid from the jump, Arrival’s a winner on all counts. — Marty Gunther, Blues Blast Magazine, Dec 2025

 “The bright faultless song arrangements, as well as Kid Andersen’s final production values, result in a high-quality recording that will totally satisfy most listeners, making them love and enjoy each of the eleven fantastic songs of this more than interesting album…. Cathy Lemons’ voice is superb and full of nuances, while Phil Berkowitz’s harmonica sounds elegant and just right.” - Vincent Zumel, La Hora Del Blues, Dec 2025

“Cathy Lemons and Phil Berkowitz describe themselves as The Lucky Losers, but the San Francisco-couple duo strike gold every time they enter the recording studio. And they do it again on this all-original offering. It’s a blend of blues that packs a punch, humorous funk, ’60s soul and more. …Music with a message. – Marty Gunther, Cincy Blues Society, Red Hot ’n Blues Reviews for November 2025, Nov 2025

“In just over forty-five minutes, The Lucky Losers present their vision of the blues—what they aim to express through their music—and their desire to do so freely and unhindered, without being limited by narrow ideas about what is or isn’t considered blues.”

-Jan Wolf, Blues Magazine, Netherlands, Dec 2025

The album celebrates its varied influences (especially classic soul) by bringing playfulness to the genre. The result is an impressive album of highly original (and honest) songs full of expressiveness and style. -Jan Victor, Parcbench.live Croatia, Dec 2025

The two sing solo as well as together, creating rich harmonies, with Lemons out in front as she street preaches on “S-C-A-M”: and Berkowitz struts through “Pull On The Rope”. The two have a hoot of a time on “Pig Iron Tough” with the team getting folksy around Kid Anderson’s slide guitar on the back porch’d “Ain’t The Marrying Kind”. The whole album has that Memphis-STAX feel, making it so you can feel the sweat. –George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly, Dec 11, 2025

The title Arrival, The Lucky Losers explain, is quite literally meant to that they have “arrived’ at a new level of musicianship with this sixth album. Although the songs are rooted in classical blues, soul, and funk of the ’60s and ’70s, the album does not box itself into pure retro. Instead, new musical horizons open: ’70s-style funk blends with rock influences, and soulful grooves offer a new form of pop-infused blues. Even elements reminiscent of disco music appear — without ever drifting into pop clichés.

—Blues News Germany (print magazine) Dec 2025

Cathy Lemons and Phil Berkowitz aka The Lucky Losers have dropped an ear-friendly release that for the Blues novice will serve as a gateway into the genre, and for the forever fan a reminder that Blues remains an American classic that’s influenced every other surrounding genre. — Bryant Liggett, The Alternate Root, Dec 2025