After more than 15 years of rocking stages around the world, two Ontario brothers are not slowing down.
The Weber Brothers’ Ryan and Sam Weber and their five-piece alt-rock blues band The Browne Sound have a ‘no limits’ approach that has catapulted them to a successful career with 11 albums, a Christmas movie and a colouring book inspired by one of their songs.
“We’re always reaching higher and doing something different,” said vocalist and bass player Ryan. “The benefit of that is you don’t box yourself in. It’s always good to leave as many possibilities open as you can. That challenges you and it pushes you every day.”
This is especially evident in The Weber Brothers’ product.
“We’ve never been limited to any kind of style or sound,” Ryan said. “Even our first CD 149 Lake Street there is no shortage of genres. I get spoken to by all styles, really. I never think I can’t do that style.”
Known for their high-energy stage presence, The Weber Brothers have become sought after.
The Ontario band has performed at the Black Diamond Hotel and for the Beneath the Arch Concert Series with Paul Reddick a few years back.
The brothers are returning to the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall in Turner Valley to kick off this season’s Beneath the Arch Concert Series with a Sept. 16 performance at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to coming to Turner Valley,” said Ryan.
“It’s one of my favourite places on Earth. We have some great friends there and I always love to spend time with them.”
The brothers are joined these days by The Browne Sound, consisting of drummer Marcus Browne, his multi-instrumentalist brother Rico Browne, guitarist Emily Burgess and three-time Canadian national poetry slam champion Prufrock Shadowrunner.
When it comes to the lyrics, that’s left up to Ryan and Sam.
“As artists the trick is to allow yourself to become more and more vulnerable and to be okay with that,” said Ryan. “That’s got to be something people can relate to more and more because the more vulnerable and open you are the more chance they have to have gone through the same thing.”
There’s been a transformation in The Weber Brothers’ lyrics since they began writing about two decades ago.
“It’s developed over the years,” said Ryan. “It’s not a conscious effort, it naturally just happens. There is more depth created because you go through more. Things you learn or see will inspire you to go for something a little different, a little higher up the ladder.”
Collaborating with other artists is a big part of The Weber Brothers’ climb to success.
As teenagers, Ryan and Sam left their Baltimore home to meet their idol, Canadian rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins, who was impressed with their immense raw talent. By the age of 18 and 21, the melodic pair had performed alongside Kris Kristofferson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Jeff Healey and David Wilcox, among others. Ryan and Sam reconnected with Hawkins and Kristofferson, as well as Gordon Lightfoot and Willie Nelson, last spring in the recording of Me and Bobby McGee.
“The track is just stunning,” said Ryan. “Their performances were so incredible.”
Another recent project for The Weber Brothers was filming the movie When Christmas Falls on Peterborough last year. The movie starred members of the band and was inspired by their Christmas album.
“We thought what would be a cool way to release this,” Ryan said.
Each member of the band played a character who was drawn to Peterborough around Christmas time for a different reason and ended up meeting each other, Ryan said. Another unique project for The Weber Brothers was teaming up with a Manitoba artist who created an adult colouring book inspired by their song Last Days of the Broken Hearted Jester earlier this summer.
“We sent him the song thinking maybe he’ll do a painting,” Ryan said. “He did a piece of art for every verse and compiled it into a full book.”
Tickets to see The Weber Brothers cost $25 for adults and $10 for children ages six to 12. Tickets are available at the Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond, at beneaththearch.ca or at the door for $30.
The colouring book and single are available for purchase at Saturday’s concert for $20. To learn more about The Weber Brothers go to weberbrothers.com
