The Bacon Brothers – Michael and Kevin – were raised on a music soundtrack of 1970s singer/songwriters, Philly soul bands, and classic rock acts back in their native Philadelphia. Ballad Of The Brothers is their 12th album since they started their own musical soundtrack back in 1994. That was when they first started performing as a working band, though they had, of course, played music together as boys.
As is true of so much of their material, the songs on the album are part autobiographical and part imagination. A case in point is the title track, “Ballad Of The Brothers (The Willie Door),” about two East Coast city slicker brothers who set out on Route 66 for an unknown destination. They find themselves at Gruene Hall, the historic dancehall where Willie Nelson played some of his most memorable shows. Hence, the “Willie Door.” The song is one part fact, one part Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. According to Michael, “I wanted to write a Faustian story set in one of my favorite states ever. It’s sort of like Texas’ own version of Charlie Daniels’ ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia.'”
The album contains the Brothers’ own fusion of folk, rock, soul, and country music – a sound they named “forosoco,” which also happened to be the name of their first album released in 1997. “Well, ‘Americana’ hadn’t been coined as a term for roots music then,” Kevin told me. “We played some folk, some rock, some soul, and some country, so we came up with forosoco. Kind of tongue in cheek, you know. Maybe we could have worked the blues in somehow. Like forosocoblu?”
Ballad Of The Brothers is replete with a mix of those genres, and sometimes the genres are mixed within a track. “Take Off That Tattoo” started out as a country tune but they turned to Travis Bacon, Kevin’s son, to produce the song. He was more oriented toward rock and electronic music and so the song took a different direction. Although…
“We worked with fiddle player Brian Fitzgerald on that song,” explains Kevin, “and the direction we gave him was: ‘Imagine that you’re playing an electric guitar, but it just looks like a fiddle.’ He absolutely crushed it.” A rock song with a fiddle solo is unusual, but it works. It is also a testament to the Bacon Brothers’ willingness to try something different.
In addition to the folk, rock, soul, and country that make up the foundation of their sound, they could add a bit of jazz. “Freestanding” is the lone instrumental track on the album, and it is indeed a jazzy tune played high and sweet.
Upon first playing the album, my favorite tune was “Put Your Hand Up,” a rollicking, Motown-inspired song. “We wanted something upbeat,” Kevin told me. “Something to get the audience engaged and maybe sing along at our concerts.” The song also makes the point that we all have similarities and are all in the same boat.
In truth, Ballad Of The Brothers is that rare album you will listen to all the way through and not find a skippable track in the bunch.
“Losing The Night” is a story of a troubled couple spending a night in a presumably cheap motel room desperately trying to save their relationship before the sun comes up. Kevin says the inspiration for the song came from a film crew’s term of “losing the light,’’ meaning if they don’t film the scene now it will be too late. So of course in the song, it is the opposite. If the sun comes up it will be too late to save the relationship.
The tongue-in-cheek “Old Bronco” finds Kevin turning a song about his 1969 Bronco truck into a metaphor for aging. “Airport Bar” compares a doomed relationship to a sports bar in an airport terminal. The album ends on a strong note with “Live With The Lie,” another somebody done somebody wrong song. Kevin’s plaintive vocals make you feel the pain and the loss of someone you thought you would spend forever with. He lives with the pain, but she lives with the lie of being unfaithful.
The Bacon Brothers lead very busy lives. Kevin is an A-list actor with many notable movie and TV roles to his credit. Michael is an Emmy-winning composer and college professor. How and why do they find time to write songs and collaborate?
Michael credited their father, Edmund Bacon, for not only instilling work ethic by example but also for the desire to keep busy even beyond the working day. It’s a family trait that is not limited only to the brothers. As Michael tells it, their sisters Kira, Elinor, Karin, and Hilda likewise lead busy lives. Beyond the desire to keep busy, music presents the brothers with an opportunity to explore and create something to share with others — something that may help people to escape, find peace, or find meaning in their lives.
Ballad Of The Brothers will be out on April 19. The Bacon Brothers will be on tour this summer.
