Austin, Texas, band Briscoe formed around the nucleus of friends Philip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman. The pair graduated from the University of Texas in May, and shortly before the release of their debut album, West of It All, they opened for the Dave Matthews Band at the iconic Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State.

It wasn’t the first opening slot for Briscoe. They had previously visited Minnesota in April while opening for Ruston Kelly in the First Avenue Mainroom. In October, they returned for their own headlining slot at the 7th Street Entry. The day after, Briscoe visited The Current studio to play three songs from West of It All and to chat with host Mac Wilson.

During their conversation, Lupton and Heintzelman talked about their achievements so far, what it was like recording their album with North Carolina (by way of Wisconsin) producer Brad Cook, and what they’re looking forward to when they get back to Austin.

Watch and listen to the complete session above, and read a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Mac Wilson: Hello, friends, my name is Mac Wilson from The Current from Minnesota Public Radio. I'm joined in The Current studio today by Briscoe, Philip and Truett. Thanks again for stopping by.

Philip Lupton: Thank you for having us out. We're happy to be here.

Truett Heintzelman: It's such a pleasure to be here.

Mac Wilson: So you were in town, you played at the Seventh Street Entry last night. And you were saying before we went on that it's a cool little room to be in. Is this your first time playing in Minnesota? 

Philip Lupton: So we opened the show for fellow named Ruston Kelly at First Avenue.

Mac Wilson: Sure, yeah.

Philip Lupton: So we got to be kind of in that space. And then this is our first headline show at Seventh Street Entry. And it was a blast. That room is just fun, and if you have a decent amount of people, it feels just packed. So it was awesome.

Mac Wilson: It's funny how I think that was before the release for your record, West Of It All, when you were in town with Ruston Kelly. So it may be you slipped under our radar at the time, so it's good to welcome you back for a real time headlining show, so it's cool to have you in.

Philip Lupton: Thanks for having us.

Mac Wilson: Well, you've played with a bunch of folks in the relatively short time that you've been as a band — Ruston Kelly! I mean, that's cool. Is he a nice fella? Or is it one of those where you don't even get to chat with him?

Truett Heintzelman: No, we got to chat with him a good bit. He was so kind to us. And it was kind of our first full band, you know, tour, if you will, doing support for Ruston Kelly. We just graduated from the University of Texas in May. And so that was like our first experience really on the road as a full band, and Ruston was so kind us and was just a really good first person to do support for. And yeah, I mean, they were a couple times he came and played some hacky sack with us and just hung out, and our keyboard player, John, is a big Super Smash Bros. Fan. And so him and Ruston battled it out a couple times.

Mac Wilson: I guess when I think about it, yeah, I could see Ruston being a big video game guy.

Truett Heintzelman: Yeah, yeah, they had some epic battles. It was fun to watch.

Mac Wilson: So this is this may seem like a tangent, but bear with me on this: So if you're familiar with Maggie Rogers, she was in The Current studio right when she was starting off, and the tour manager came in beforehand and says, "Maggie is tired of talking about Pharrell Williams," like, let's not tell that story again. So I'm like, "OK, I won't bring it up." But are you getting to that point with being asked about Dave Matthews now? Like, I've seen this, and I'm like, "How can I not ask them about what it's like to open up for Dave Matthews and Dave Matthews Band? So if you're willing, would you go into a little bit of that experience?

Philip Lupton: Absolutely, yeah! No, we're not tired of that at all. How can you be tired of that, right? We, yes, we got to open for Dave Matthews at the Gorge in Washington State on Labor Day weekend. He does three nights every Labor Day weekend there — Labor Dave Weekend. And it was just a crazy experience. The Gorge is just an awesome amphitheater, awesome venue, and getting to open for Dave Matthews, I mean, come on, that's like everybody's dream; one of the best touring artists of all time. So it was a crazy, surreal experience to get to spend time with Dave, be around his band members, they're all very kind. And then he even came onstage and gave us a funny little introduction before we played. So it was a really, really cool experience.

Mac Wilson: So you mentioned that you just graduated from college. You don't want to know how long ago I graduated from college. It was about two decades ago. But when I was in school, like everybody would listen to Dave Matthews Band, and it was sort of a staple of the dorms. Is he still popular with the kids these days?

Truett Heintzelman: You know, not to the same extent that he was, obviously. But I think there's a lot, like — like, I was raised on Dave Matthews; my dad is a huge DMB fan. Our drummer is the same way; he was raised on on Dave Matthews Band and is a huge Carter Beauford fan. And so I think for a select few of our friends who were kind of raised the same way, it was just incredible and so cool to get to experience that. And also, I mean, opening was a blast, but also just getting to watch them play at the Gorge was just incredible, too. They're just so — I mean, they've been doing it for so long for good reason, because they're just as good as it gets. So it was incredible.

Mac Wilson: So you noted that you're from Texas, went to school in Austin. So in the American League Championship Series right now, it's the first time ever that the two Texas teams have played each other in the playoffs, the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. So where's your allegiances?

Truett Heintzelman: My grandparents live in Dallas and are huge Rangers fans. And so they kind of brainwashed me when I was young to be a Rangers Cowboys fan, despite growing up in South Texas. So I'm pulling for the Rangers, and they got a good win yesterday.

Mac Wilson: They did. Yeah. And Philip?

Philip Lupton: I'm gonna go Astros. My family spent a year in Houston a while back, like 2009, and ended up going to quite a few Astros games. But I also loved the Rangers growing up, so it's really tough for me to choose a side, honestly. I'm a happy kid either way.

Mac Wilson: I've never been to Houston, I've just flown through it. And I noticed your cap, too, the Scurlock Oil Company. It seems like one of those things that could be, like, is that a real company? Or is that like, manufactured?

Philip Lupton: It was. It has dissolved. I think it was actually incorporated into some bigger entity since this hat was produced. But it was at a thrift store in West Texas where I'm from, so I picked it up.

Mac Wilson: You're telling me that an oil company is big enough to absorb other companies? Imagine that! Like, I'd never heard of that happening before. Cool. So for your new record, you met up with one of the best sibling duos around: Phil and Brad Cook. They're just the best fellas on the planet. And now, were both of them doing production work, or did you just work with Brad producing and Phil doing everything else?

Philip Lupton: Yeah, so Brad was, Brad produced the record entirely. And then kind of brought Phil in to do what Phil Cook does and play every instrument beautifully with amazing feel just kind of to saturate the record. So he ended up doing a lot of different keys parts, banjo, dobro, slide, electric, just all kinds of fun little parts and arrangements for the record. And then Brad also played a lot of different things, but all the bass on the record. But together, I mean, that combination is crazy. We were so fortunate to get to do that record with them. And they're just great guys, really good folks to be around, and really believed in us and this first record, and poured a lot into it as well. So we're very fortunate.

Mac Wilson: You are fairly early into Briscoe as a band. Do you feel like things are happening really fast?

Truett Heintzelman: I would say yes and no. I think there are times where, you know, you look back and like, like we're just talking about the fact that we have opening for Dave Matthews Band under our belt and just wrapping up our first headline tour, things of that nature, it does feel like it's moving fast. But at the same time, it also feels like a good kind of steady, step-by-step process and we're enjoying it. Enjoying both sides of it, for sure.

Mac Wilson: So you noted that you're on your way back to Texas; after this, you're basically, we're going to get off the air and you're going to get in the van and head back to Texas. Do you plan on, like, taking time to decompress for a while? Or are you the type of folks that you're like, "We're going to get writing and recording again"? Like, what do you see happening in the next couple of weeks or months?

Philip Lupton: Yeah, it's so fun being in Austin, based in Austin, because there's just markets all around, so we're gonna do like some weekend warrior shows pretty much till Christmas. I think we'll have shows almost every weekend in different markets, probably play some private gigs down there as well. But we both love songwriting and music outside of touring. So we're going to be writing a ton. And hopefully we can use that restful time to come up with some new ideas. We don't have any dates in the studio coming up, but we'll get our songs ready for when they do.

Mac Wilson: We are here in The Current studio with Briscoe. Philip and Truett, thank you again for stopping by today after your show at the Entry, and best of luck to everything. I'm sure we'll be welcoming you back soon, whether you're opening up for Taylor Swift or playing a headline show of your own, you're on to a really good thing. So thanks again for stopping by.

Truett Heintzelman: Thank you so much for having us, it's such a pleasure and we'll see you down the road.

Philip Lupton: Absolutely. Thank you.

Mac Wilson: Thanks a bunch.

Gallery: Briscoe in The Current studio

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Video Segments

00:00:00 The Well
00:03:36 Sparrows
00:07:41 Coyotes
00:11:52 Interview with host Mac Wilson

All songs from Briscoe’s 2023 album, West Of It All, available on ATO Records.

Musicians

Philip Lupton – vocals, guitar, banjo
Truett Heintzelman – vocals, guitar, banjo

Credits

Guests – Briscoe
Host – Mac Wilson
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Video Director – Erik Stromstad
Editor/Colorist – Eric Xu Romani
Audio – Evan Clark
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Briscoe – official site