Extended family

The members of Nashville-based pop rock group Brother Henry (above, from left, David Henry on cello and mandolin, Park Ellis on drums, Ned Henry on guitar and Jeff Henry on base; all four sing) are no strangers to Cape Girardeau or the Tunes at Twilight concert series. The foursome opened the series last year, performing at the ArtsCape festival the next day, making the town part of the Brother Henry family. This year they'll open Tunes again, followed by a Saturday concert at the Underberg house. On wednesday David Henry took a few minutes to talk to the Southeast Missourian from Houston as he waited on a plane to take him back to Nashville. Matt Sanders: So tell me about your performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards Tuesday night.

David Henry: We were playing with Tim McGraw. Yeah, it was cool. I don't know if you got to see it, but Tim came out and did this beautiful song, it was called "If You're Reading This" ... from the perspective of an American soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan and is now dead, and sent that posthumous letter. It was just real heavy, you know.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was amazing, a real moment.

MS: I guess Tim McGraw is one of your Nashville connections?

DH: Yeah. I'm a producer in Nashville, I've got my own studio and I do a lot of cello stuff. A good buddy of mine who's a string arranger has done some work for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw in the past. They called him and he subsequently called me to do this show.

MS: Your bio says you've worked with Ben Folds, Indigo Girls, Cowboy Junkies, Steve Earle and REM. What's it like to work with those acts?

DH: It's cool, although sometimes you don't even see them. You might see one band member.

Those credits, they all vary. Like with [the band] Guster it was engineer and co-producer, REM was also an engineering role, but some of the others are like strings, wearing different hats on different projects.

MS: Are any of those bands groups that influenced you?

DH: Oh yeah. Certainly REM, you know, and even Indigo Girls, they were hitting big when we were still in high school and college, so it was exciting to see them coming up through the ranks. I did an REM record, and when I first saw Michael Stipe walking through the door I couldn't stop staring at the guy. He's such a presence, he's such a celeb, it was pretty cool.

MS: With your past performances here, do you feel like you're building up a fan base in Cape Girardeau?

DH: Last time we played Tunes at Twilight it was real well-attended. Then we did the ArtsCape festival the next day. It was cool. And this time the Underbergs are going to do a house concert Saturday night.

It was cool. We love the community, it's a pretty spectacular place.

We sold a handful of records, and people sign up on our e-mail list. We're certainly excited about coming back. We thought there was a real good vibe and people enjoyed our music. Sometimes you go to places and you can tell it's not their thing or they're into other stuff, and it's like, all right we'll try another market. But this one felt real good, so we're real excited about coming back.

MS: Your bio says the band draws influences from "the noble exploits of parenting and dayjobbing." You guys still have day jobs?

DH: I don't. I do music full time. My brother Ned does computer work. My brother Jeff's in Atlanta, he's a luthier, he works on guitars, Park is a teacher, he does tutoring and teaches music lessons.

MS: So I guess that everyday life, children and jobs, is what your songs are about?

DH: We're all in our late 30s, Jeff's actually 40, so we've got a little maturity, and we write accordingly. We're not writing bubble gum pop songs ... You've got to write lyrics you can get behind, stuff that makes you want to rock, the things that matter to us, family matters and even world events ... You've got to write lyrics you can get behind, stuff that you'll enjoy singing a year or two later.

MS: What does having cello and mandolin do for your sound?

DH: It lets you do some different textures. The cello is such an amazingly versatile instrument, you can just get all kinds of textures out of it. But then you find a crazy stompbox, you know, something with some different sound effects and you really get some great textures. Mandolin, too. Nothing's sacred, let's have some fun.

And I enjoy the contrast of something real woody and earthy sounding, then you mix in some kind of synthetic effect with it and you come up with something neat and interesting. Any way that you can push the boundaries of an instrument or sound is a good thing.

That's a flag I'm always waving personally, it's like push it, push it.

MS: You've got a new record coming out, right?

DH: It's done. I'll have to check with my brother but we have every intent of bringing some new material to the Cape when we come. We're very excited about it ... It's a little heavier than the last record.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Want to go?

What: Tunes at Twilight featuring Brother Henry

When: 7 p.m. tonight

Where: Common Pleas Courthouse Gazebo

Info: 334-8085