Briscoe returns to The State Room on Tuesday, Feb. 3, along with opener Wells Ferrari. Doors are at 7 pm.
For bandmates Phillip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman, touring together is like living a dream neither fully expected would happen. Friends since middle school, the duo formed their band in high school and signed to ATO Records before graduating from college.
“We basically put our pencil sharpeners down, picked up our guitars and started touring,” Heintzelman says, calling from outside of Phoenix, the first stop of their latest tour. Between now and March, they’ll play almost nightly, and that’s entirely OK: they’ve grown used to it.
“We’ve been living out our dreams since the day we started writing songs for a living. Saying that out loud is crazy … and it’s such a privilege,” he says. “As a band, we are young and hungry, and I believe in the songs we’re writing. I don’t think we will ever really feel like we’ve made it; we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The Americana and folk-rock duo’s songs are easy on the ears, and it helps that they’ve got tried-and-true heavyweights in their corner on their latest, 2025’s Heat of July. With Grammy-nominated producer Brad Cook at the helm and multi-instrumentalist brother Phil Cook to help out as well, they’ve also brought along members of Houndmouth, Bon Iver, Mipso, and Watchhouse as part of the new one.
Briscoe on Naming a Band
The name of the band, however, is much more personal: Briscoe was named after Lupton’s grandfather, who passed away before they ever had a chance to meet. It’s a way of paying homage.
“He was a great guy … who went by Skinny,” Lupton says. “Raised in West Texas, he and his wife had three sons. He was a great businessman, a man of God, somewhat of an outdoorsman … someone I would have loved to shoot the bull with.”
Perhaps making a name in music by borrowing his grandpop’s name is the next best thing, though. If they don’t know that just yet, maybe they will after a couple more years on tour.
“It’s an interesting time in the music world with social media … people are able to conjure up a career without ever playing a single show,” Heintzelman says. “But we still believe there’s no better way to grow as a band and connect with people than getting out there and playing.”
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