While Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz boast distinctive resumes individually — Brace as a solo artist and leader of the band Last Train Home, and Jutz as one of Nashville’s most prolific artists and producers — the pair are also a distinctive duo when they unite to share their sounds. Brace began collaborating with the late Peter Cooper just over a decade ago. The two had the opportunity to open for singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith, and that’s when they met Jutz, who happened to be Griffith’s guitarist.
The relationship evolved from there. The pair asked Jutz to join their duo as often as he was available and began adding some of his songs to their sets. “It was an easy transition to formally becoming a trio,” Brace insists.
They subsequently released a series of albums as a trio, but after Cooper’s premature passing in December of 2022 — the result of a head injury suffered in a fall — Brace and Jutz decided to continue their working relationship, in part as a tribute to their departed friend.
“We wanted to create our own body of work, and have it be something beyond just a trio minus one,” Brace explains. “We’ve been touring and playing as many gigs as we can to let the world know that we’re still out there, talking about Peter Cooper, but also hopefully creating something distinct. It’s always an open question for anybody who’s doing creative work these days in the face of all the destruction and anger and awfulness in the world.”
Brace’s commitment and conviction are apparent in the way he describes the motivation for making music in the first place.
“It’s a question that we all face, which is what can we do to make the world a better place, to fight back against these powerful anti-humanist forces that are at work in the world,”
“It’s a question that we all face, which is what can we do to make the world a better place, to fight back against these powerful anti-humanist forces that are at work in the world,” he continues. “I wonder every day what else I can do, and whenever we’re out on the road playing, it reinforces that just the simple act of playing music is a positive force, and it’s sending something good into the universe. It’s particularly rewarding when people in the audience come up after the show and actually say those words, or something like them. It was good to start playing again with Thomm after the COVID lockdown, and after the death of Peter Cooper, just to get out there and feel the positive energy of a concert, especially a house concert or a small, intimate room where there’s a few dozen people listening closely.”
Brace and Jutz released an album titled Circle and Square, their second as a duo, this past January on Red Beat Records, the label Brace and his wife founded in 2006. It serves as a follow-up to their initial duo album, Simple Motion, which came out in 2024.
“We know each other so well after more than a decade of playing together that everything becomes easy, and almost nothing needs to be said out loud for the other to be able to understand,” Brace notes. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses musically, and we complement each other in that regard. To collaborate in performance or in songwriting, you can’t let your ego get in the way, and Thomm and I are both good at that.”
Brace said that the duo has especially enjoyed playing to smaller audiences. “Most of our shows involve dozens of audience members, not hundreds or thousands,” he noted. “We love the intimacy of that kind of show, where folks come ready to listen to our songs and hear our stories. It’s a responsibility to make a connection… to be entertaining, yes, but also to give something deeper. It’s very, very rewarding to know that people still need that in their lives. They’re not all just living on their phones or watching TV or whatever.”
A recent overseas excursion effectively reaffirmed that feeling. “We just got back from a three-week tour of Europe in May, and that was wonderful,” Brace reflects. “It was good to see a lot of people there again. It’s nice to see people that are still listening to our music and buying our CDs and encouraging us to keep doing it. While we were there, we wrote three songs, and those will make it onto the next record, which will probably be out in early 2027… because why not? Making music and co-writing songs with Thomm is one of the great joys of my life, and I want to do it as long as we’re both able to.”
In that regard, Brace couldn’t be happier to come back to Blount County, where the duo will perform on Tuesday, July 14 at 7 p.m. as part of Jay Clark’s monthly Shindig series at Tri-Hop Brewery in Maryville.
“I love that part of the world,” he insists. “I love driving through the hills south of Knoxville. It just feels like I’m in touch with a sort of primal element of American music, and it affects me in a way that most parts of the world don’t affect me. I love thinking of all the music that’s been made in East Tennessee, looking at the landscape and letting it take hold of me. So I’m really looking forward to playing in Maryville again.”
Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle will emcee the Shindig on July 14, substituting for the show’s usual host, Jay Clark.
(NOTE: Jeff and Sarah’s own series, “Behind the Barn,” takes place at Maryville’s Bluetick Tavern on the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. Their guest on July 17 will be singer/songwriter Millie Rochelle.
