Across the landscape of Americana music, there’s not a motif more prevalent than the open road. Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton, the duo at the center of folk band Briscoe, have spent most of the past two years crisscrossing the continent, from their native Texas to both coasts and back again. During that time, they’ve shared stages with artists like Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan and headlined their own sold-out shows. The byproduct of those traveling days is Heat of July, an album that evokes a sense of pastoral beauty and is inspired by both the feeling of being in motion as well as experiences the duo has encountered along the way.
“A lot of what we’re writing is inspired by people or places or specific situations,” Heintzelman says. “It’s almost like a roadmap.” Snapshots of moments include hunting trips to the remote reaches of West Texas, driving through the canyonlands of Arizona, or simply visiting Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Heintzelman’s wife lived when the couple first started dating. Narrative lyrics conjure characters that exist in sharp relief for the length of a song, like passing through a town that exists briefly in vivid detail before fading in the rearview mirror.
“Because we were writing in the van, a lot of times writing lyrics looked more like writing poetry,” Heintzelman says. “I’ve just got this new appreciation for trying to curate and make sure that every aspect of a song is something you can hang your hat on.”
It’s not just physical scenery that the band has been watching change through a car window. The terrain of their personal lives has seen dramatic shifts in recent years. When the pair writing songs together, they were just teenagers, and their debut record was released during the throes of their college days. Since then, both band members have both graduated and gotten married.
Even as the duo’s musical career took them in countless new directions, they found themselves crafting a foundation back in Texas—a warm little fire to build a life around. Heintzelman and Lupton both live in North Austin, less than a mile from where they went to school and formed Briscoe. They served as groomsmen in each other’s weddings, and their wives are close friends. There’s an idyllic essence to their lives that matches the music they create—as though bright banjo notes, acoustic guitar, and close harmonies could take physical form.
If you ask Heintzelman and Lupton what they learned most from all their days traveling, they’ll tell you it’s just how much they appreciate home. As much as Heat of July purports to be a record about the road, it’s also a record about the origin point at which that road begins. And the title track was inspired by Lupton’s strong memories of growing up in the Texas Hill Country amid blistering summers.
“For that song, each verse was just a memory or a picture from my childhood,” he explains. “Where I grew up, in San Angelo, on the way to West Texas, the skies begin to open up, there’s not a single tree over 7 feet tall, and rain burns up on the asphalt.”
This August, the band announced a last-minute surprise show at Sagebrush in South Austin. Though Briscoe has already sold out larger venues like Stubb’s, the guys wanted to do something special and intimate for local fans. Before the show, the band crowded into the small artist greenroom, where Heintzelman scribbled out a set list while gripping a can of Lone Star. Both men’s wives found their way backstage for well wishes and quick kisses.
Briscoe took the stage to a room filled with adoring fans who chanted along to every word. Along with plenty of cowboy hats and boots, flowing white dresses were a common theme, which—coupled with the devotional-like singalongs—made the evening feel almost spiritual. Fitting, since the pair originally met at a Christian summer camp in Central Texas. Although the promising folk act are well known around these parts, the show felt like an arrival for a group with a new record out Sept.19 and a coveted billing for ACL Fest on the horizon.
“The amount of pride that I have in calling this home has only grown exponentially the amount that we’ve been gone,” Heintzelman says. Watching the band radiate with joy in front of a hometown crowd reciprocating that love, it’s easy to see why.
Great Job Bryan C. Parker & the Team @ Austin Monthly Magazine Source link for sharing this story.
