Introducing The Bros. Landreth

The brothers, Joey Landreth on guitar and Dave on bass, are joined by drummer Ryan Voth and guitarist Ariel Posen in a band that is founded on gorgeous harmonies, bluegrass and bluesy instrumentation and songs that seem immediately familiar.

And yet, we are just learning about the band, even if they already have a Juno nomination. That’s not unusual: The Bros. Landreth are just now getting their music out to the nation, with their debut album, Let It Lie, having dropped Jan. 27. The interview took place prior to the band signing with New Frontier Touring (home to acts like The Avett Brothers) for U.S. booking representation.

They’re going places. You can hang your hat on it.

We talked to David Landreth earlier this month and hit it off fabulously (we’ve edited out the part where we talk about their publicist’s too-cute dog, Willie, the miniature dachshund).

We figured the first question would have to do with their musical genre. Even here in the office, the definitions ranged from blues to something akin to the Eagles. Little did we know that it is a common question to ask the band members.

Philosophical question: when we write this, how do you want us to define your music?

Philosophical question, for sure, and one of the hardest to answer. The short answer is, thankfully, here in the States you guys have something called Americana and that’s what we identify with. It’s the easiest and quickest answer. It’s not something we really have in Canada. It’s not really a place you can fall into. We don’t have an Americana community. We have a broader “roots” community that encompasses folk, singer/songwriters and everybody in between.

But I think the best way to answer the question for people who want to have an idea [of] what we’re doing is to go back to where we came from and cite some of the influences: Derek Trucks, Bonnie Raitt, Sonny Landreth, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Little Feat. I think that gives people a better way to understand what we’re all about or, maybe, it helps to paint it.

You have established ties in Nashville. How associated is your band with that part of our country?

It’s our favorite spot so far, and it’s been, by a strong margin, the most accepting market we’ve hit in the States. We’ve been welcomed with a great degree of affection and, very quickly, we’ve found a bit of a home for ourselves. That’s really encouraging because this place is a notoriously tough nut to crack. It’s been really kind to us. We came here with a horse shoe up our ass and we’ve found a ton of people we really like and [who] seem to get behind what we’re doing. We’ve made a lot of friends in bands, which is exciting. This Thursday we’re doing a show at the Mercy Lounge, so we’ve got our first proper headlining show and I think there will be some people there! Which would be really cool!

That being said, we have two, and only two, boxoffice reports for you, reports promoters sent in from early of last year, and they are nasty numbers. I bring this up not because I want to talk to you about shows that had 12 people in the audience but …

Oh, that was a good one then!

Well, I was going to say, “What a difference a year makes.” Can you expand on that?

We’re getting some notable press. As live players, the show is paramount to us and let me put it this way: We’ve spent the last year being really good at putting out a real integral and sincere show to a very intimate audience. We’re starting to reap the rewards of a hard year of slugging it out. We’re starting to see people at the shows. And it’s been in the best places. New York has been good to us, Nashville, Chicago. Those are hard cities to get into and we’re feeling the love. We’re starting from the bottom. In Canada, we’ve had a year start but we’re feeling it now and the touring is improving. We’re starting to sell out some rooms, which is exciting.

The States are at square one, but we understand the value of the long build.

This is a good conversation. Assuming the rest of the band is as personable, is it a safeassumption you’re establishing rapport with new fans?

I don’t want to come off as cheesy but our fans become our friends pretty quickly. The rapport has been comfortable and cozy. We really like our fans, and I’ve played in a number of bands [that couldn’t] always have said that. (They weren’t “my” bands. This is “my” first band.) The people who come up to us after shows seem to be really fantastic people, very kind, considerate, supportive. That’s also been incredibly encouraging, that they seem to be connecting to what we do.

What is your concept for touring in 2015?

Well, it’s just going to continue to build. Of course, everybody is going to tell you it would be great to get out and take advantage of that exposure but we also love it the old fashioned way, building up that fanbase one person, two people at a time. Two-four, four-eight, 16-32. We see real value on putting that kind of shows. We’re going to see ourselves down in the States a lot over the next few years.

Can you give a brief band history?

Sure. Oct. 3, 2013, Joey and I started the band officially. We opened a bank account, got a business name, and we were off to the races. We put out the record in Canada. … We came to the States in March [2014] and managed to hook up a record deal with Slate Creek. [Let It Lie] came out Jan. 27. There are milestones in between: the band has grown. We started off as two of us but in the recording process realized we wanted to be a band, so we brought in our dear pal Ryan Voth. We had a keyboardist for a while but now we have Ariel Posen on guitar, who is a phenomenal and scary musician. He’s whooping our asses nightly.

That’s the quick overview. We’re all players. I was sitting at the dinner table today, did some math, and realized I’m quickly coming up on eight years of substantial travel as a sideman. We’ve all been on the road with other bands for most of our careers. So we’ve been playing for a long time but this band is a fairly new adventure. And we’re incredibly excited about it.

So this “new” band just continues the legacy of years of effort.

Yeah, I don’t think you ever finish putting in your dues. Some people say you have to pay the piper but you don’t. You’re forever paying into it because there is now real apogee to it. You just play music until you die. That’s the best-case scenario. That said, we’ve put in a lot of time learning what it’s like to be supportive musicians and good ones. We’ve learned a lot about what it means to be on the road and all the stuff you don’t think about like what the lifestyle is, how to eat, how to stay healthy, how to stay happy and sane. How to get along. How to travel.

Anything else you’d like to tell readers?

We’re excited that our record came out Jan. 27. We’ve been touring for almost a year without music to sell, which has been really tough. It feels really good to get out there with a record to have something to take with us that we can send people home with. But we’re a live band. The great bliss we get is from putting on a great show. We take pride in it. If anybody is curious about what we’re doing, we want to show you. Come to a show and let us play for you. As long as we’re somewhere in the neighborhood to your cup of tea, I think we’ll connect.

Upcoming dates for Bros. Landreth:

Feb. 20 – Pinawa, Manitoba, Pinawa Community Centre     
Feb. 22 – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Various Venues (Festival Du Voyageur)    
March 4 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Village Guitar & Amp Co.    
March 5 – Dauphin, Manitoba, Dr. Vernon L. Watson Arts Centre         
March 13 – Minneapolis, Minn., 7th Street Entry     
March 17 – Fort Worth, Texas, Magnolia Motor Lounge     
March 18 – Austin, Texas, Various Venues (SXSW)           
March 23 – Kansas City, Mo., The Riot Room         
March 26 – Red Lake, Ontario, Red Lake High School       
March 27 – Dryden, Ontario, Dryden Performing Arts Center        
March 28 – Thunder Bay, Ontario, Finlandia            
March 29 – Geraldton, Ontario, High School
April 2 – Toronto, Ontario, Rivoli     
April 5 – Fargo, N.D., The Aquarium            
June 26 – Dover, Del., Dover International Speedway (Big Barrel Country Music Festival)          
July 10 – Courtenay, British Columbia, Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds (Vancouver Island Musicfest)

For more information please visit TheBrosLandreth.com and check out the band’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.