Back to the blues: ZZ Ward and The Brothers Comotose
William Munoz
(Missoula Current) Last week, blues singer-songwriter ZZ Ward brought her original songs to the stage singing with her powerful but unique voice that melds the blues with many other styles, including hip hop, R&B and rock.
She has collaborated with many including blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. on the song “Ride,” which was featured in Disney's “Cars 3” movie. She summed up her musical philosophy in an interview with Cleveland Scene in 2023.
“My whole career, I’ve worked with a lot of different producers,” she said. “Generally, I would write with them, and if we love the song, we use it. That’s generally how it’s gone. The feeling behind the music is important.”
The following night in Missoula, the bluegrass folk band The Brothers Comatose, along with California-based bluegrass band AJ Lee & Blue Summit, proceeded to bring the crowd moving with their hearts and bodies.
The guitar player for the band is Sully Tuttle, who along with his father Jack and sister Molly, represent California bluegrass royalty. The “Tuttles with AJ Lee” was the band that all were members of until 2019, when Sully and AJ Lee formed Blue Summit and Molly Tuttle formed her band Golden Highway.
Sully and AJ Lee have been playing together ever since. In addition to playing mandoline, AJ is a great songwriter, providing the band with songs that are redefining what a bluegrass band is. They describe “City of Glass” as “a slow burn album.”
They are not mimicking the past as many successful bluegrass bands are, but rather they're finding and “discovering themselves, their own music, and sonics and textures truly their own.” They are creating a new ballad that comes out of the long bluegrass history.
The Brothers Comatose are not new to Missoula. This San Francisco-based bluegrass band is high energy, foot-stomping fun that brings out a loyal following – one that crosses age and other social demographics. They appear at many of the festivals year after year and bring a performance that is infectious.
This tour has the new addition of Addie Levy on mandolin while Greg Fleischut is perusing other ventures. Levy is from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and serves as a session musician in the bluegrass/country world, as well as pursing her own music.