We had the pleasure to sit down and chat to the wonderful John Teague of Teague Brothers Band last week. Check out as we talked about their latest album, the state of the industry and their touring plans!

The album just dropped a couple of weeks ago, seems to have gone down well!

Yeah, it’s rock’n’rollin’, man!

Is there a theme to the album or is it more individual tracks?

The overarching theme kinda came later. We went in there with 16 songs and we knew that we were going to be very honest and aim for such a sound. We’d been on the road for five or six years so we knew what we wanted to sound like and that the producer we were working with was able to amplify that sound.

All that being said, the overarching theme ended up being very much a personal tribute to my family, where I come from originally in South-East Texas. A lot of stuff from Texas is blended into it; the food I talk about in some of the songs. Unfortunately my grandmother passed away in the middle of the recording. One of the songs I’d actually written for her, not as a tribute but it was meant to be sung to her, but she passed sway before she could hear it. The whole album ended up being kinda like… for her. It all came together!

It’s been nearly six years since your debut album, would you say the music (and you) have evolved since then?

Oh yeah, I think so! The first record was like ‘okay, here are my songs’. What do we sound like? It was the first time we’d been in a professional setting so we really didn’t know what we were going to sound like when we got done. Compared to this time; we’ve been on the road touring the country so we have a really good idea of the vibes we’re putting off. We did our best in the studio to sound like what we’ve been doing!

What’s the writing process like for you? Is it mainly you bringing ideas to everyone else or more of a group effort?

Yeah, it’s exactly what you said! I write all the songs, sometimes with another songwriter, so I’ll have all these songs pocketed and ready to go. It’s just the bare bones and the message, mainly. Then they kinda call down from beyond to cut it down to 10 or 15, and then we go from there!

You have a few gigs coming up, I imagine you’re planning more to support the album?

Yeah definitely. It’s going to be closer to the fall months. I’ve got some vacation time in June that I very much want to take. After the summer we have some heavy touring we plan on doing. August, September and beyond. Things are gonna start to pick up on that. That’s mainly what I’ve been doing this week, filling all those dates in. We’ll make some announcements soon!

What’s the scene like for you guys over there? It’s always been popular but seems to have blown up even more!

Yeah, I mean you can make a living just doing what we do. We’re not gonna be rich, by any means, but there’s enough demand that we can stay busy and everyone in the band can make a living. That being said, I know in the UK it’s been pretty hot lately, the demand for artists from our world to travel, to make the flight, has definitely gone up. A lot of my friends have gone on tours that way; Flatland Cavalry, Vandoliers, Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium. If you haven’t heard any of those, you should definitely check them out!

Have you got any plans to come out here yourself?

Oh yeah, definitely. We started talking with a promoter trying to set up a string of shows and brings over four or five artists. If we’re not on it this year, it’ll be next year for sure. You have to plan those trips like eight months in advance! But yeah, I’d love to, I want to for sure! We’ve got a pretty good following out that direction so I’m ready to do that. We need to come visit you guys, Canada, and I’d like to go even further and into Europe too, we’ll see!

Yeah, the genre seems to be taking off over there too so you can make a bit of an easier trip out of it, got more places to hit!

Yeah, there’s kinda a string of shows that most of the bands follow. There’s promoters in each one of those areas that are all connected to each other. Y’all do something much different than we do here. You have a promoter that actually sells the tickets to the show, as opposed to here it’s very much on the artist to sell the tickets. It’s a little tougher. You don’t see too many promoters, aside for big festivals, but for actual venues and stuff it’s not really happening. But I like that, you have promoters who can put 400 people in a room and sell a room out for an artist who’s never been there before! I love that, I really wish we could do that here.

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of?

Oh yeah, definitely. I’ve always wanted to give people what they wanted and we have a deep connection with Turnpike Troubadour; we’re good friends and some of my band have stepped in on their band. Javi even backed my band at a charity event. We’re all interlaced and intertwined. I think it would be really fun to hit the road with them. At the very least Red Rocks, let’s do a big one!