From Bluebeard to Blue Ridge: The Brook & The Bluff support new album at District Live

With a name like The Brook & The Bluff, and publicity photos featuring bearded, suit wearing band members hanging out in the woods, you can be forgiven for assuming that the Nashville (by way of Birmingham, Alabama) band are rootsy Americana revivalists prone to shouts, boot stomps and hand claps.

“We have half a foot in that world,” said The Brook & The Bluff frontman Joseph Settine.  “We have some real folk leanings, but overall, we’re more of just a band.”

Settine and guitarist Alec Bolton began The Brook & The Bluff in 2015 as an acoustic folk duo when they were attending Auburn University. Settine and Bolton played in separate bands for frat parties, but soon found a good reason to team up.

“Alec walked around Auburn one night asking a bunch of the bar managers for a gig,” recalled Settine. “He got one and then he realized it was three hours long and he called me and was like, ‘Dude, I don’t have three hours’ worth of stuff. Let’s play together again.’ I jumped at the chance.”

The duo’s name came from the fact that Bolton was from Mountain Brook and Settine was from Bluff Park in Birmingham. But while they were writing material for their first EP, they realized that their ambitions required a full band.

“The vision evolved, but as we added people, they all happened to be from Mountain Brook, so the name kept working,” said Settine.

Settine and Bolton added bassist Fred Lanford and brothers John and Kevin Canada on drums and keyboards. What began as folk rock evolved into a smooth amalgamation of mellow yacht rock harmonies, golden '70s AM radio, and pillow-soft indie rock. Clean-toned, warbly guitars glide over chunky, funky bass and drum grooves, gentle, pastel-hued keyboards, and Settine’s warm, intimate vocals.

“Everybody tries to write something like their influences, and it always ends up being yours,” Settine said of the band’s stylistic evolution. “Somehow you find your own voice along the way.”

Settine is partly influenced by the music his parents introduced him to as a child like The Beatles, Steely Dan, Al Green, and John Prine.

“When I was old enough to find music for myself and we started recording I was obsessed with Frank Ocean and Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour,” said Settine. “The sound developed over time because of what we became interested in after we had formed the band.”

The Brook & The Bluff’s latest album, Bluebeard, was recorded all the way back in 2021 and was finally released two years later last September. The band recorded Bluebeard at the Canada brother’s family vacation house in stunning Sky Valley, Georgia, overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“After the pandemic started, we were going to make Yardsale, our second record, and we started to write some songs,” explained Settine. “We’d been up there one time just to hang out together as a band and it became our place to go write and figure out new things and be away from everything for a few days. We’d go and take a bunch of music gear and go for hikes and finish some ideas that we had at home.

“Then in 2021 we went up there early in the year and at the end of that trip we were sitting in the living room talking about what we wanted to do for the next record and Fred had mentioned that he had read a Kurt Vonnegut novel called Bluebeard which was my favorite book, and I freaked out about it. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is it. We should make a record called Bluebeard.’ I had a demo for the song ‘Bluebeard’ that I had written in 2017 and it was this epiphany moment.”

The Brook & The Bluff invited their longtime producer Micah Tawlks (Coin, Jake Wesley Rogers) to set up his equipment in the mountain home and record the band over ten days. The vibe of the new album was perfectly captured in its album cover photo—taken from the front porch—of a butterfly flitting in front of a majestic mountain landscape.

“Our goal was to make something that feels like the way we feel when we’re up in the house,” said Settine. “I think we crushed it, personally. When I listen to it, it’s like a gateway. It brings me right back there. I think that place for us is really peaceful, it’s very beautiful. The Blue Ridge Mountains are insanely gorgeous, so it’s nice to be up there and put your phones away for a few days and just be together and hang out making stuff.”

In the two years between recording Bluebeard and releasing the final version, The Brook & The Bluff spent extra time tweaking the record, as well as touring extensively, opening for bands like Mt. Joy and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The band grew their fanbase in that time, as well as grew as individuals.

“From the band side of things, our followers doubled in the time from when we started making the record to when it came out,” said Settine. “Making Bluebeard was the start of me really becoming comfortable with who I am as a person. I turned 30 after we had made it, and I feel like after you turn 30 you have a little bit of a perspective shift, and you can sit in yourself and be a little more accepting of yourself. All of us have gotten to that point. I think the record helped us grow and be more comfortable as individuals and as a band.”

The Brook & The Bluff are just beginning the second leg of their biggest tour yet, with a stop at District Live on Feb. 27.

“It’s been the best touring of our lives,” said Settine. “The shows, there have been more people, and our fans are insane. Even if we didn’t sell out every show in the fall and then the first three on this, it feels like the people in the room are so energetic and enthusiastic that it’s always an incredible time. I’ve had the most fun on stage that I’ve ever had in my life.”

If You Go >>

What: The Brook & The Bluff

When: 8 p.m., Feb. 27

Where: District Live, 400 W. River St.

Cost: $22.50-25

Info: plantriverside.com/district-live/

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: The Brook & The Bluff play District Live February 27