The Mulligan Brothers have a new sister, a new single, and a new site they’ll play for the first time when the visit Montgomery on Friday at 8 p.m.
“We’ve played some bar shows there in Montgomery, but that’s really all we’ve done there so far. We’re really excited about the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre,” said Ross Newell, lead vocals, guitar and songwriter for the group.
Feel The Music: The Mulligan Brothers Bring Their Unique Sound to Montgomery Story by Shannon Heupel
The fertile, 21st century Alabama music is shifting. Artists that were adorable blog-bands a few years ago are no chart-topping Grammy nominated acts and major festival booking coups. Here are the 20 Alabama bands and solo acts to watch and listen to in 2016.
Story by Matt Wake for AL.com January, 2016
Ugly Sweaters, Pure Intentions: Mulligan Brother's Christmas Single Benefits St. Mary's Children's Home
Don't be alarmed by the hideous Christmas sweaters: The Mulligan Brothers come bearing a new Christmas song, and the chance to do something nice for the kids at St. Mary's Home.
Story by Lawrence Specker for AL.com December, 2015
In 2015, The Best Music is from Alabama--from Muscle Shoals and Birmingham to Mobile
Mulligan Brothers Perform Best Casually
The Mulligan Brothers in Alternate Root's Top 50 of the first half of 2015
Via Portland takes lessons from The Mulligan Brothers self-titled debut and continues to blend imagery in their stories the band easily offers sound as one fluid motion. Ross Newell curls his voice around the words that build his tales, as he gently lets go (“Run on Ahead”), basks in the glow of an evening sky as the Christmas lights sparkle at journeys end (“Road That Leads Me Home”) and sharpens his pen when talking about how the same blood can take different paths (“Not Always What It Seems”).
Danny McCloskey for The Alternate Root
The Story Behind The Mulligan Brothers' Suitcass Bass
All the electronics for the suitcase bass came from parts Ross Newell recycled from old smoke alarms. Turns out if you wire it backwards, the alarm component that makes the loud "beep" noise becomes a microphone, used here as the pickup to amplify bass strings' vibrations.
Story by Matt Wake for AL.com May 26, 2015
Brothers Building Fan Bass
The Mulligan Brothers are not really brothers, but they do qualify as mulligan takers, both careerwise and Arkansaswise. (The word, popular among golfers, refers to an extra stroke taken after a poor shot.)
The Mobile, Ala.-based alt country, folk and blues band members, all of whom have been in other groups, are making up for lost time. And they are making up for a lost performance, returning to Wildwood Park for the Arts after bad weather ruined an October 2013 outdoor festival show.
Story by Jack Hill for the Democrat Gazette March 2015
The Mulligan Brothers Come Full Circle "Via Portland"
Fans can expect “Via Portland” to contrast their debut in many ways. However, The Mulligan Brothers’ core sound and musical philosophy still remain. The band captures the listener with the warm harmonies of “Wait for Me.” Newell sets the stage for a story of longing and heartbreak with his acoustic guitar before being joined by a wave of instrumentation from his band mates. The song creates a foundation for an album that is more sonically dramatic and dynamic than its predecessor.
Story by Steve Centanni for Lagniappe December 2014
The Mulligan Brothers Plan December Release for Second Album
When The Mulligan Brothers put together their “second chance” band in early 2013, it was with the mutual understanding that the music came first. All four agreed that “we wanted to play our original music and make a career out of it without selling (our) souls.” The band was willing to take a risk by playing their original music and slowly, methodically building a fan base, knowing that money would be tight and fame an unlikely bedfellow.
“We’re doing honest music,” says Gram, “These are true and honest stories about real life experiences…honest music from the heart.” As with their first effort, the band has tried to stay way from “formulas set forth on the radio.” Confirms Rea, “We want to play our music even if it doesn’t mean a major deal. We just want a solid career that we can sustain for many, many years and a following that appreciates the music. It’s really about the music at the end of the day.” He admits that it’s a little scary to release a second album when the first was so well received, but “We’re very excited. There are some really great songs – you’re just going to have to wait and see!”
Storytelling takes the stage as Mobile’s most promising up-and-coming band melds bittersweet lyrics with comforting Americana/folk melodies.
The Mulligan Brothers – a locally based musical foursome – gently weave heartfelt tales of love and loss into a complex yet comforting quilt of bluegrass instrumentals, the combination of which will leave you nostalgic for something (or someone) that you can’t quite put your finger on. With a remarkable universality, the band’s self-titled debut album features songs that you could as easily imagine spilling from the mouth of a storied, laugh-lined old man as his teenage grandson grieving his first heartbreak. The Mulligan Brothers sing and play about where they’ve been in a way that makes us all realize we’ve been there, too.
The group mixed several new songs into the set, including "Bad Idea," their closing tune. It was a standout, marked by rippling guitar and a walking bass line that gave it an energy different from anything on the first album.
Story by Lawrence Specker for AL.com, October 5, 2014
Berlin likely is best-known to the public for his work as a member of the band Los Lobos. But he has worked as a producer throughout his career, and has been involved with Grammy-winning projects in both roles. In addition to Los Lobos recordings, those projects include songs and albums by Buckwheat Zydeco, Ozomatli, John Lee Hooker and Los Super Seven.
Story by Lawrence Specker for AL.com
The sound of revving engines mingled with the chatter of moms and dads and kids and artists and curious pedestrians who happened to stumble across the scene. Around about 3 o’clock on the makeshift bandstand – not a stand, really; just a clearing on the concrete near the food and beer, with some speakers set up – the Mulligan Brothers, up from Mobile, Alabama, picked up their guitars and bass and fiddle and laid down a backbeat.
Story by Bob Hicks for the Oregon Artswatch, September 12, 2014
http://www.offbeat.com/2014/06/01/top-selling-albums-during-jazz-fest-2014/
The Mulligan Brothers Play Rock'N'Bowl on June 27
After playing their first Jazz Fest this year, The Mulligan Brothers were named one of Offbeat’s Top Selling Albums of the Festival.
OffBeat, June 25, 2014
The Mulligan Brothers Come to The Bama Theatre
Alabama Band to Perform at the Bama
“I think there’s a plethora of talent coming out of Alabama right now,” DeLuca said. “A lot of it has to do with that Muscle Shoals sound with St. Paul and the Broken Bones and the Alabama Shakes, but we hope we’re adding to it as well. We hope we’re following in the footsteps of those bands’ success with it. I don’t think we sound just like them at all, but we have some sort of an Alabama sound.”
Newell said living in Alabama and interacting with other Alabama-based musicians helps inspire The Mulligan Brothers’ sound.
The Crimson White, June 11, 2014
Mulligan Brothers Get a Do-Over
The band's sound is a combination of familiar genres that ends up not quite fitting in with any of them. The instruments are acoustic and a fiddle is featured, but they're not a bluegrass ensemble. The arrangements are stripped down, but they're not quite Americana. Their lyrics are heartbreakingly intimate, but they're not quite folk. It's music that resists easy categorization despite the familiar building blocks.
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, June 5, 2014
Lap's Music Festival to Feature Local Musicians
If there is one band that has been doing Mobile proud of late, then it has to be The Mulligan Brothers. In a short time, this band has gone from playing local watering holes to performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Currently, this modern Americana group is busy writing their second album. The band is also getting ready to go into the studio, and they will have a “big announcement” concerning the studio and producer in the coming weeks.
Lagniappe.com May 29, 2014
Emerging Alabama Band The Mulligan Brothers Comes to JazzFest
If you don’t know of The Mulligan Brothers yet, you will soon as this emerging Mobile, Alabama band makes its way to the Lagniappe Stage at the New Orleans JazzFest this May to show off their knack for writing fine Americana, folk songs and their comfort and talent as a band, even though they’ve been playing together for less than two years.
AXS.com April 9, 2014
The Mulligan Brothers at Rock 'n' Bowl
Their self-titled debut album has drawn rave reviews earning them a spot in this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival alongside Alabama-based acts Jason Isbell and the Alabama Shakes.
Gulf Coast News Today March 14, 2014
Mulligan Brothers Go to the Mountain
Rising Coastal Act The Mulligan Brothers Make the Jazz Fest Cut
Being from the South seems to have influenced The Mulligan Brothers both in its lyrics and instrumentation. “In Alabama there is a great music scene,” Newell said. “Not only because of the musicians but because of the patrons and supporters of music. We get inspired by great musicians around us. Growing up in the South we’ve definitely got some Cajun influence and finally are in the band that we want to be in. It feels like we’re finally home, I think that’s a direct product of where we come from.”
DIG January 2013
The Mulligan Brothers are Featured in Regional Musician
on their way up, and fast.
Second Chances for The Mulligan Brothers