Cosmic American Music played by Twin Citizens the way God & Gram Parsons intended. The sonic territory where hillbilly, soul and psychedelia meet to smoke a jeffery before going in to see The Stones in '74.
Formed for a one-off Halloween show in 2011, The Blackberry Brandy Boys are a double dare that somehow became a reality. The band is the brainchild of 89.3 The Current host David Campbell and his singin' buddies, songwriters Brian Just and Matt Latterell. They thoughtfully assembled nine like-minded folks from various different parts of the magnificent Twin Cities' music scene who had virtually nothing in common other than that none of them are assholes and they all can sing. From Matt Latterell's band they grabbed bassist Reed Pagel, a man who once pulled a small stick out of his own head that had been in there for two years and who survived an entire week consuming nothing but orange juice as a dare (one of these things isn't true). From the Brian Just Band they picked up the only two girls allowed in The Blackberry Brandy Boys: keyboardist and harmony specialist Josie Just, fiddle prodigy Jillian Rae. Campbell was more happy to bring on the white wizardry of guitarist Kent Militzer on board. Kent is a veteran of The Magnolias who currently rewriting the book on electric guitar and playing in kitschy cover bands like Jailbreak!, Mötel California and Agents of Fortune. Kent then turned everybody on to steel guitar / six string superhero Clay Williams and tub thumper Sean Gilchrist, a man who has met The Hulk, Boss Hog, Willie Nelson, Jeff Tweedy and Gregg Allman. A set of classic country, folk, pop, psych, soul and rock 'n' roll tunes that just felt "right" were assembled, and the group tackled them with fervor and flare. Fueled by undeniable chemistry, kinship and love of both country AND western, The Blackberry Brandy Boys have picked up the Cosmic Country torch and are planning on tossing it in that lake of gasoline over there. Yeah ... you might want to stand back if you wanna keep those eyebrows.
The band holds a monthly residency at the Minneapolis hotspot Icehouse on the third Wednesday of each month. Current DJ Bill Deville spins music for like-minded folks at these events. Everybody is welcome, so long as you're cool. Dig? Are you cool ... man?
