Briscoe: 2023

Briscoe breezed into our Bronx studios on an August afternoon and set up shop in Studio A where they buoyantly treated us to a few tunes while celebrating the release of their debut album, West of It All.

It was easy to see how these guys had cultivated such an impressive fan base in Austin. A record deal was inked before Philip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman, the band's red-headed prime movers and lead singers, graduated from the University of Texas in May.

Heintzelman’s acoustic guitar was complemented by bassist Eric Loop, drummer Andrew Reed, and keyboardist Jon Clover-Brown, who all chipped in on harmony vocals.

They started with a standout from their self-titled 2020 EP, the stomper “Hooped Earrings” that features Lupton blowing sax. Lupton then moved to banjo for a pair of new songs: “The Well” and “High on You."

In our conversation, Lupton and Heintzelman shared some details about inspirations for West of It All and acknowleged the likes of novelist John Steinbeck and The Avett Brothers.

[Recorded: 8/21/23; Engineered by Jim O'Hara, Allen Wang, and Erin Merriman; produced by Meghan Offtermatt]

Briscoe plays an early show at New York's Mercury Lounge on September 28.