Brooke\u2019s story is similar. \u201cI played with my dad,\u201d he laughs. \u201cBecause that\u2019s the way it works, y\u2019know?\u201d He learned guitar by age 13, eventually joining Robert in the reggae band 20th<\/sup> Century Rebels. \u201cThat\u2019s where I discovered my love of horns,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then Robert started playing the saxophone.\u201d<\/p>\n Since his dad had the keyboards covered, a young Duane Blackburn came up playing bass with him. After years watching his brothers play in bands, He and Brooke put together a band to back local entertainers. \u201cWe did that for ten, fifteen years in Toronto,\u201d Duane recalls. \u201cThen in the late \u201890s we decided to put our own thing together.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with those rock-solid foundations, today the Blackburn Brothers believe they weren\u2019t predestined to play in a group together. It simply happened. \u201cWe just got tired of backing up other people,\u201d says Duane. \u201cMy cousin Nathan, me, Brooke, Cory and Robert just started jamming, writing original music for ourselves. And that\u2019s where it started.\u201d<\/p>\n The brothers built their own recording studio in Malton, Mississauga, some 20 miles northwest of bustling Toronto. With today\u2019s modern digital technology, most every musician can claim to have a \u201cstudio,\u201d but back then, a setup with a 12-track Akai machine was impressive indeed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I say \u2018built,\u2019 I mean built<\/i>,\u201d Brooke emphasizes. \u201cIt was a three-car garage, and we did everything: the drywalling, constructing a six-sided room for the drum booth, and installing a console.\u201d The studio had dedicated rooms for recording the organ and other instruments.<\/p>\n Billed as Blackburn, the group released 1997\u2019s Soul Searching. <\/i>Continuing to develop their style, the group made a decisive step toward the blues with 2009\u2019s Brotherhood<\/i>.<\/p>\n Benefits of Brotherhood<\/b> Robert believes that the brotherly connections help when it comes to songwriting. \u201cWe\u2019re all in the same vibe, yet different,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can run ideas across each other and get good feedback, because while we like the same stuff, we each bring a different flavor.\u201d He notes that after getting input from every member of the group, a song might sound different than it did when it first came to the studio. \u201cBut 99% of time time,\u201d he insists, \u201cit sounds better<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote a song on Brotherhood<\/i> called \u2018Four Brothers,\u2019\u201d says Brooke. \u201cIt talks about the strengths of family. No matter how musical you are, you still have that sense of family. You may write a song, you might do a nice gig. But then it\u2019s \u2018Okay, where are we [getting together] for Thanksgiving?\u2019 With family, you have that sold bond that can never be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n Building on the Blues<\/b> Cory cites a recent exchange with his eight-year-old son as a case in point. \u201cWhen I put on certain records, he\u2019s like, \u2018I like it, Dad, but it\u2019s old<\/i> music.\u2019\u201d After pointing out to his young son that it\u2019s perfectly okay to like \u201cold\u201d music, he thinks to himself, \u201cHow can we make what we do fresh and accessible? Not just to blues societies, but to the new generations?\u201d<\/p>\n That mindset leads to some intriguing and outside-the-box choices in terms of arrangement and production. Cory says that in the \u201880s he listened to a lot of \u201cdirty, dirty funk\u201d and was impressed with what he heard. He was especially intrigued by the use of \u201cGolden Throat\u201d talk boxes. \u201cI remember listening to those Roger Troutman albums and thinking, \u2018My god, is this ever funky!?\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Thus inspired, the Blackburn brothers incorporated similar textures into their original music. A highlight of SoulFunkn\u2019Blues<\/i> is \u201cFreedom Train,\u201d a song that make prominent use of the Vocoder, an electronic treatment of vocals that\u2019s a technological cousin of the \u201870s and \u201880s talk boxes.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/blackburn02.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nEvery member of the Blackburn Brothers believes that there are significant advantages to making music with one\u2019s siblings. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a comfort zone,\u201d says Duane. \u201cYou know what [everyone else] is doing, and there\u2019s a dependability in that.\u201d He notes that if one band member has a problem, there\u2019s a safe space to let it out. \u201cNo repercussions in the long run,\u201d Duane says. But he adds that there are some drawbacks to being a band of brothers. If something bad goes down, \u201cyou can\u2019t kick their ass,\u201d he says with a hearty laugh. \u201cBecause you\u2019ve got to see them the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhile the Blackburn Brothers\u2019 music is immersed in multiple genres \u2013 including soul and funk, as the title of their newest record makes plain \u2013 they\u2019re in agreement that blues is the root of everything they do. \u201cBut,\u201d says Cory, \u201cour contemporary take on the blues is to ask, \u2018Where can we go to have elements of traditional blues but make it a bit more cutting-edge for today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n