The Brothers Burn Mountain

One of these days very soon I'm going to share with you something I've been working on concerning a couple of friends of ours, Ryan and Jesse Dermody, who make up The Brothers Burn Mountain. Our friendship with them is one of the things from the past 5 years that makes me feel good inside; the kind of good feeling that comes from bonding with people of honest and sincere spirit. The fact that Ryan and Jesse are two of the most astonishingly talented artists I've known is a bonus. It's a pretty sweet bonus, to be sure, but still it's not the reason I think highly of them. These guys are humble, generous and without a shadow of pretense. Shoot, they're damn near awkward when it comes to refined social grace. That too is why I like them.

But I said I'd tell you that story sometime down the line. Right now I just want to share a little snippet of that artistry and synergy they have together. Here's a funky little video they just released a few days ago for "Divine Impressions," a track off their new album Emancipation Blues.

The Brothers Burn Mountain - DIVINE IMPRESSIONS.
Divine Impressions is Track #3 off the Brothers Burn Mountain New Album, Emancipation Blues. Hear and or buy the album at: http://thebrothersburnmountain.com/store.shtml

This video was shot on a frozen lake in Northern Minnesota on February 14, 2012. Video & Editing Credits: Josie Horbach and Mary Jo Zagozen.  © Copyright 2012 The Brothers Burn Mountain. All Rights Reserved World Wide.

Brothers Burn Mountain

This month has been an exceptionally good one for live music at Stumpjack. West of East kicked things off, followed by Icarus Drifting a couple weeks ago, then Snorb! this past Saturday (review to come). If this month's music schedule were a boxing match it would be like having Muhammed Ali in his prime hit you with an air sucking body blow, a nose bledding left jab and a teeth cracking uppercut.

And here comes the from-the-back-of-the-auditorium, jaw breaking roundhouse that lifts you off your feet and sends you unconscious to the mat...BAM! The Brothers Burn Mountain will be here this Saturday, May 29th at 7:00pm.

The media press release/article (please forgive the quotes from myself...sounds like me quoting me, oy vey...but that's just the way it was written and submitted to the press):

The Brothers Burn Mountain to perform at Stumpjack

The Brothers Burn Mountain will perform at Stumpjack Coffee on Saturday, May 29th at 7:00pm. Their third album/CD, Partly in the Blue, the White, has just been released and has quickly earned overwhelmingly positive reviews from listeners. "Everyone I know of who has had this CD in their hands has been blown away by it," says Stumpjack co-owner David Smith, "and everything I've seen online from others who have listened and reviewed it is incredibly exciting."

The Brothers Burn Mountain includes real life brothers Ryan and Jesse Dermody, who have been crafting a music vision together since 1997. Brian Skinness, of Terrapin Station in Nevis, MN describes their music as "deliberate...original and new, yet hauntingly familiar." The band is currently touring throughout the Midwest and will be making their third appearance at Stumpjack this Saturday night. 

2007 saw their first release, The Blood of a Thousand Clouds, and was followed in 2008 by Wild Cat Road. Partly in the Blue, the White reveals the band's growth as songwriters and story tellers, as well as talented musicians who are able to use just a few instruments and voices to create richly layered aural soundscapes. The album tips its hat to other genres like chanting blues, honky tonk and even 1970s English rock, but all while keeping itself firmly entrenched in a sound that is uniquely Brothers Burn Mountain.

"I don't don't know if it would be fair to say that this is there best release yet," says Smith, "because each of their albums is so connected to the others. Each is like a chapter in the same book, dependent on what comes before and after. But I will say, if that is the analogy, then this is a very, very good chapter. I can't stop playing it, and everyone I've shared it with has fallen in love with it too."

Listing Neil Young, Wilco, Charlie Parr and Seasick Steve as artists they like, The Brothers Burn Mountain more accurately cite "the imperfect waverings of nature" as their main musical influence. They have also been spotlighted in American Songwriter magazine.

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note: next month: Stumpjack Queen Becky Markvart kicks things off, and in mid-month the incomparable Pato Banton with the Now Generation band (more details to come).