Nevada City, CA April 28, 2023 – Saddle up and shine your spurs, The Brothers Comatose are making their first appearance at Miners Foundry Friday, May 5th.
When they’re not headlining The Fillmore for a sold-out show or appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the band is out on the road performing across America, Canada, Australia, and hosting their very own music festival, Comatopia, in the Sierra foothills.
Whether traveling to gigs on horseback or by tour bus, Americana mavens The Brothers Comatose blaze their own trail with raucous West Coast renderings of traditional bluegrass, country, and rock music. The five-piece string ensemble emphasizes the rock element, despite their sleepy name. Guitarist and vocalist Ben Morrison asserts, “We’re anything but a traditional acoustic outfit. We’re a rowdy, bluegrassy, rock’n’roll string band.”
The name of the band comes from the characteristics Ben noticed while watching his brother, Alex, playing the banjo. “I attribute it to the fact that my brother, when he gets super into the banjo, his eyes roll up in the back of his head and he looks like he’s in a musical coma. It just popped into my head one day,” Morrison said. “ Now it’s just the name. You never really think about the names of bands once you associate it with that band. Like I listen to Pearl Jam all the time, but I never think of them as, like, ‘pearl – jam.’”
The Morrison brothers are not alone in the world of folk and bluegrass sibling acts. From the Avett Brothers to the White Brothers with the McCormick Brothers in-between, there is a long-standing tradition of families playing this kind of music. Morrison attributes the trend to time spent together, “[Bluegrass] is a folk tradition and it’s been passed down, generation to generation in living rooms. People didn’t have TVs, so they played music together. We did have a TV, but we got the tradition from our parents.” With their vocalist mother and percussionist father, it was simply what the family did when together. Morrison continued, “Familial harmony lends itself to harmonize together, your voices already sound similar, and you can make one big sound. Like the T Sisters (in which Ben’s wife Erika sings and plays), they put three voices together to make one big voice.”
The heirloom of passing music from generation to generation extends to The Brothers Comatose special guest, Hattie Craven, who has been playing with her highly acclaimed father, Joe, since she could stand on a stage, “We’ve known her for a while,” said Morrison. “She’s jumped on stage as she’s gotten older. She’s sat in with us before, and now we finally get to team up.”
Family matters to Morrison, who is the father of a two-year-old and a four-month-old, and already sees his eldest singing into microphones she finds on the floor. “I’m in trouble,” he acknowledged with a sleepy grin. “Of course, as much as there is joy in a family of musicians there is also difficulty. [Touring] is rough on everybody. It’s hard to be away, and when your wife is also a traveling musician you have to get very good at planning…and have very good grandparents living nearby.”
Fortunately for Morrison, the Foothills are just a few hours from home. Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy an evening with the incomparable Brothers Comatose, Friday May 5th beginning at 8:00 at Miners Foundry!
For more information about coming events: www.minersfoundry.org
KNOW AND GO:
WHO: The Brothers Comatose with Special Guest Hattie Craven
WHERE: Miners Foundry, 325 Spring Street, Nevada City, CA 95959, Call (530) 265-5040
WHEN: Friday May 5th Doors, 7:00pm Show 8:00pm
HOW: Show is $22.50 in Advance / $25 at the Door. Advance price closes at 4:00 p.m., the day of the show.
Available online, by phone or in person at the Miners Foundry Box Office:
325 Spring Street, Nevada City, CA 95959 Tuesday – Friday | 9:00am – 4:00pm
The Miners Foundry Cultural Center is a living historic treasure serving Nevada County as a cultural art and community events center. More than a venue, the nonprofit’s mission is to preserve, enhance and utilize the historic Miners Foundry for cultural, educational, and social activities in Nevada County. It is a symbol of California’s rich historical heritage, providing an educational and social bridge from our past to the present and future.