Briscoe’s rise: How 2 Texas natives broke into the music scene

Philip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman, both from Texas, share a deep musical connection that began in their middle school years.

Lupton is from San Angelo, while Truett is from San Antonio and attended Clark High School in Northside Independent School District.

Their paths crossed at a summer camp called Laity Lodge Youth Camp in the Texas Hill Country outside Kerrville.

“We met when we were in middle school,” Lupton said. “Whenever I would go to San Antonio, I would always try to see Truett, and we would play guitar, write songs and cover songs that we loved. That’s kind of how we started.”

The birth of Briscoe, breaking into the music scene

Lupton’s and Truett‘s passion for music blossomed into a passion project that influenced the creation of Briscoe.

“Briscoe started as kind of just a passion project in San Angelo, and once we joined together at the University of Texas, is when we started to try and take it a bit more seriously; playing shows, recording more music and trying to get a little bit of support behind us,” Lupton said.

“We really just started playing around town any way that we could,” said Truett.

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Lupton and Truett to perform at any venue possible in Austin, including backyard shows and country club gigs, as most traditional venues were closed.

“We kept playing. We started to break into some venues and met our now-manager and got connected with our team,” Truett said. “From there, we started to play at more venues around town. We started out headlining a place called ‘The Ballroom at Spiderhouse.’ Since then, we’ve played at Continental Club, C-Boys, Antones, Stubbs, Scoot Inn and all of that. It’s been playing at these venues up in Austin.”

Through their high school years and into their first year of college, Lupton and Truett recorded self-produced music while figuring out their sound.

“We had a couple of different singles and a couple of different EPs,” Lupton said. “What we dubbed as our Briscoe EP on Spotify is a collection of some early work, some of which dates back to my time in high school, most of it is from both of us in college.”

Evolving sound

Reflecting on their early music, Truett said, “Some of the EP was just us figuring out who we were as musicians and songwriters. At the time, Philip was kind of re-learning the saxophone, so that was a really cool thing and a cool component that we wanted to implement into as many songs as we could.”

Truett described the EP as “fun and just a little all over the place.”

“Some of the songs are a little more folk, singer-songwriter songs and other songs have a lot of saxophone and get into more of a groove musically,” Truett said.

As they recorded their debut album, West Of It All, Truett said they settled into the folk scene.

“I think we really assessed what we wanted the world to know us as with our first proper album as our first introduction. We ultimately landed on a folk duo that really cares about the lyrics we’re writing and really presents that with good instrumentation and a lot of harmonies,” he said.

Musical backgrounds

When discussing their musical backgrounds, Truett shared that he and Lupton have similar yet slightly different experiences.

“My parents weren’t particularly musical, but they really wanted me and my siblings to venture into the music world,” he said.

Truett’s first instrument was piano, which he initially disliked.

“I took some piano lessons when I was young. Full transparency, I hated it,” Truett said. “I didn’t have any desire to play classical music. Looking back now, I wish that I had liked it a bit more. Anyway, it was a good foundation. And then in middle school, I played the trumpet, which was super fun.”

The experience helped Truett appreciate playing an instrument more.

“Around that time was when I learned how to play the guitar. That combined the joy of getting to play an instrument with the freedom of getting to play whatever I wanted,” Truett said.

Throughout Lupton’s early years, he participated in middle school band but ultimately stepped away to play football “like a good Texan boy.”

Lupton told KSAT that he eventually started playing multiple instruments, like the guitar and banjo, and cherished songwriting.

“I really fell in love with this songwriting thing and loved just messing around on instruments and writing songs just for fun, which is really what got me into the idea of starting some kind of band,” said Lupton.

Memorable experiences on tour

Briscoe started as a duo, but as they began playing live shows in Austin, they were introduced to many other musicians and eventually formed the band.

One of Lupton‘s most memorable experiences while touring was opening for the Dave Matthews Band.

“At the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington State. Just a beautiful venue. Really cool to open for Dave Matthews Band and his many, many fans. That was a great experience, very memorable,” Lupton said.

“I think we have more road stories than we can count,” Lupton said, in part. “Whether it’s blowing out a tire in the middle of nowhere on I-10 at 2 in the morning or sliding around in the snow of New York state. Whatever it is, we have a lot of fond memories around the tour life off stage as well.”

Truett shared that some of his most memorable experiences have come from playing festivals in Cancun, Mexico.

“One of them was called ‘Out of the Blue,’ so a lot of really good indie acts. Noah Kahan was there, Caamp, a bunch of bands like that. So that was fun,” he said.

Influences and recommendations

Briscoe draws inspiration from the early to mid-1970s sound, including rock n’ roll, Americana country, and folk acts.

“People like James Taylor, the Eagles, songwriters like John Prine, Willie Nelson is one of our all-time favorite artists. I mean, the list just goes on and on: Carole King, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne,” Lupton said.

Lupton believes many contemporary artists are producing great music, mentioning bands like the Avett Brothers, Turnpike Troubadours, and Nathaniel Rateliff.

Truett mentioned that someone new to Briscoe should dive straight into their discography.

“Listen to it all if you can. The EP is fun. The saxophone is a blast, so it’s hard to beat. But I think you can really tell the maturity in the songwriting in West Of It All.”

West Of It All features songs that Philip and Truett composed throughout their college years.

“The idea behind West Of It All was that a lot of those songs turned out to reflect this longing to be out just spending quality time doing quality things,” Lupton said.

“Whether that’s spending time with people you love, with your family, with your friends, in beautiful places, you know, get out to the country and go hunting, go fishing, go hiking, just enjoy creation. I think that’s a theme that West Of It All reflects a lot — this desire to get west of it all,” Lupton added.

Looking ahead

Looking to the future, Truett mentioned that they recently recorded two covers: “Clay Pigeons” by Blaze Foley and “Hold On” by Alabama Shakes, both released on May 16.

Briscoe also has their second album nearly wrapped up and is finalizing the details. They are slated to perform on Weekend 1 of Austin City Limits.