The Brook & The Bluff: Ten Years In, Still the Guys You’d Want to Grab a Beer With 

There are some bands you go to see because you love their music, and others that leave you feeling like you'd happily grab a beer with them afterward. The Brook & The Bluff made a pretty convincing case for both at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Sunday, November 8.

Originally formed in Birmingham, Alabama, and now based in Nashville, The Brook & The Bluff is made up of Joseph Settine (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Alec Bolton (lead guitar, vocals), John Canada (drums, vocals), and Kevin Canada (keyboards). Over the past decade, the band has built a devoted following with their rich harmonies, soulful melodies, and a sound that comfortably moves between indie rock, folk, and Southern influences. Think The Head and The Heart meets The Band, with a little of Jeff Tweedy’s biting wit sewn in for good measure.

“We're a pro-cold beer band,” the group joked from the Jannus Live stage, before clarifying that they're also a “warm-beer band.” It was the kind of lighthearted, endearing banter that made the evening feel like hanging out with a group of old friends who happen to be very good musicians. And as a born-and-raised Floridian, I’ll tell you right now, there’s nothing we love more than songs about friends and jokes about beer. Or jokes about friends and songs about beer? I don’t know. We like friends and beer. You get it.

And speaking of friends, the band seemed to be doing a fair amount of reflecting on their own friendship. At one point, Settine summed up what a decade of making music together had come to mean to him: “I like hanging out with these guys. Nothing else matters.”

It was a simple sentiment, but one that seemed to capture the spirit of the entire night.

The set moved through newer material like “Werewolf,” “Super Bowl Sunday,” and “Bad Bad News,” alongside familiar favorites including “Tangerine,” “Baby Blue,” “Halfway Up,” and “105.” Their signature harmonies and easygoing chemistry carried through the performance, balancing moments of tenderness with an infectious energy that made it difficult to stand still.

The crowd at Jannus Live was clearly in on the fun. Couples danced, friends clinked beers, and the barricade was lined with fans looking up at the stage with stars in their eyes. Throughout the set, the band even got the audience howling back at them in a call-and-response that was as absurd as it was enthusiastic. Nobody seemed particularly concerned with looking cool, least of all the guys onstage.

Perhaps the most telling part of the evening happened before The Brook & The Bluff even took the stage. The band had invited Ryman, an artist they'd only recently met, to open the show for his first-ever live performance. There was something genuinely lovely about a band with ten years of touring behind them handing the stage over to someone just getting started. It was a small gesture with a pretty big impact, and one that said plenty about the people behind the music.

For a band celebrating a decade together, there was remarkably little nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. They seemed less interested in making a grand statement about ten years of music than in enjoying the fact that they still get to do this together. Judging by the room full of smiling faces, the feeling was mutual.

Photos and review by Andrea Ingrande