Coming off their latest release, “Let it Lie,” The Bros. Landreth will be performing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11.

By SAM WATSON
Marketing Contact, Ignition Music Garage

GOSHEN — The November concert series at Ignition Music Garage, voted Top Ten Favorite Venue by the Americana music association, kicks off with a co-bill of The Bros. Landreth and The Ballroom Thieves Wednesday, Nov. 11.

Twenty-seven years. Four bandmates. Two brothers. One album.

“Let It Lie,” the debut release from Canadian roots-rockers The Bros. Landreth, is proof that there’s strength in numbers.

Anchored by the bluesy wail of electric guitars, the swell of B3 organ, and the harmonized swoon of two voices that were born to mesh. At first listen, you might call it Americana. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll hear the nuances that separate The Bros. Landreth — whose members didn’t grow up in the American south, but rather the isolated prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba — from their folksy friends in the Lower 48.

Where does the sound come from? Maybe it’s in their blood. After all, long before they made music together, siblings David and Joey Landreth attended their father’s bar gigs as babies.

“Mom would take us in the basinet and stick us under the bar tables, and we’d fall asleep,” says David. “Dad was a working musician who backed up people like Amos Garrett, but his love was always songwriting. He’d play three or four sets at those bars, so we’d be at the gigs all night.”

“We were always around music,” adds Joey, the group’s frontman and chief songwriter. “We had no choice! We were baptized into it.”

In this increasingly virtual world of ours, what makes music authentic? For some, songs are no more than tiny sentimental decompressions. But others treat music as an extension of their roots, a mirror of their travels and relationships, and a testament to both their craft and passion.

The Ballroom Thieves will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Ignition Music Garage.

For The Ballroom Thieves, the band’s journey has only just begun, but their roots already run quite deep. Now, on “A Wolf in the Doorway” the Thieves find themselves taking the very idea of “roots” and creating ways to make its associated sound progress, while making its encompassing spirit glow.

Stylistically, the trio finds a captivating mélange of acoustic styles, blending folk conventions with modern hymnals, delta blues grit with rich harmonies, exploring the basic constructions of pop music while almost wholeheartedly rejecting its restrictions at the same time. “Our own personal growth and explorations in songwriting and musicianship caused us to end up in this unique spot where we can generally feel free to be who we are at all times, which is sadly not a luxury enjoyed by all,” says guitarist Martin Earley. “I think we have a certain sound at the moment, but that sound is constantly evolving, and I hope it keeps doing that.”

Perhaps it is a blessing, but the band has a certain awareness and interest in all of its surroundings that equates to a form of musical intelligence. See them live and this becomes tremendously clear. They are a product of their community. They wager it all with every song and every performance. They study those with whom they share the stage. They feed off of the spirit of their audience. They grow from each other.

“This was a huge transition year for us in that regard and I think we are stronger than ever,” says percussionist Devin Mauch. “When money is tough, the road is snow covered, ticket sales aren’t ideal, food is repetitive, or relationships back home are struggling, that’s when you have to be able to turn to your two bandmates and relate to one another on a higher level than others can really understand. We’ve become a pretty solid and supportive unit, so I think we’ve armed ourselves to take on just about anything.”

Ignition Music Garage presents The Bros. Landreth and The Ballroom Thieves Wednesday, Nov. 11, as part of the ongoing Ignition Concert Series. Doors open at 7:00pm and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Seated tickets are $20. Standing tickets are $15.

Tickets may be purchased at Ignition Music Garage, by phone at (574) 971-8282, or online at http://ignitionmusic.net/