Butcher Brown and McKinley Dixon

So, what kind of music do you make? This question is the bane of every musician's existence because it requires that they shrink down the wide expanse of their creativity to an easily (mis)understood genre description. No matter how vivid or elaborate the description, show will always be more powerful than tell. The words we use to describe music don’t encapsulate what the listener's experiences as much as give context clues.

Butcher Brown's Sound

That’s why Butcher Brown, the multifaceted band from Richmond, Virginia, call their sound and their follow up to 2020’s #KingButch and their second release on Concord Jazz, Solar Music. Solar Music is not simply a description; it’s an invitation to listen and an invitation to feel.

Band Members

Friends and bandmates Corey Fonville (drums), Andrew Randazzo (bass), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Marcus Tennishu Tenney (trumpet, saxophone, vocals), and Devonne DJ Harrison Harris (multi-instrumentalist) make music that is as diverse as their own varied tastes and backgrounds. It’s a seamlessly blended amalgam of sounds including jazz, hip-hop, rock, funk, R&B. “We are the melting pot. We are the mix,” says Devonne. “I feel like that’s what we represent and that’s what this album represents.”

Music for the People

But Butcher Brown’s eclecticism isn’t for the sake of musical masturbation or to impress chin-stroking critics. Theirs is music of, and for, the people. “It’s music for everybody,” says Tennishu, reflecting on how well-received they’ve been on stages across the globe. “You can see it on all kinds of different faces, young, old, big, small, short, tall, they all start dancing eventually. It’s literally music for the whole solar system.”

Creative Process

So how did this band of brothers make the sun come out on this new album? They challenged themselves to break from routine and old formulas. “[In the past] we’d make a record, like [2014’s] All Purpose Music, and put constraints on what we do in the studio with the thought of the live show, thinking let’s make this something that we can recreate at the show,” explains Andrew. “We did that for a few records but then #KingButch was the one where we kind of departed from that idea and took more of a Sgt. Pepper approach of, let’s just explore what we can present in the studio, even if it’s not something that we can pull off live.”

Exploring New Sounds

Realizing that listening to their albums and their live show are two distinct experiences unlocked a new level of creativity for the band. Now Butcher Brown could allow themselves to explore new sounds and approaches to songwriting and production. This new unbridled creativity informed their approach to making Solar Music over the course of many sessions in 2021 and 2022 at go-to studios Montrose Recording, Minimum Wage Studios, and their home base Jellowstone.