PATIO SHOW: Eric Brace & Thomm Jutz

ERIC BRACE & THOMM JUTZ 

Eric moved to Nashville twenty years ago from Washington D.C., where he was leading his acclaimed roots-rock band Last Train Home, named D.C.’s “Artist of the Year” in 2003 by the Washington Area Music Association.

Thomm grew up in Germany, where as an eleven-year-old boy he saw “Outlaw” legend Bobby Bare sing on a television show. It was a bolt out of the blue, and right then Thomm knew that his future was in Nashville. In 2002, twenty years after that epiphany, Thomm moved to Music City and immediately became an indispensable sideman to the likes of Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, David Olney, Kim Richey, and others, while also building a studio and a reputation as a producer and songwriter.

Eric, after a leaving his career as a music writer for The Washington Post, built Last Train Home into a powerful touring unit. Moving to Nashville in 2004, he launched Red Beet Records, a label with an eye on all the talent in his East Nashville neighborhood. One neighbor was journalist and songwriter Peter Cooper, whose debut album Eric released on Red Beet. Eric and Peter’s friendship evolved into a duo. Over more than a decade they released four albums, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Children’s Record after making I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow.

After recording two albums at Thomm’s studio, Eric and Peter realized that they were just better with Thomm joining in on the fun, and the Brace/Cooper/Jutz trio was born. Two powerful albums ensued: Profiles in Courage, Frailty & Discomfort, and Riverland.

On those albums, songs by Brace and Cooper are side by side with those of Thomm, who won “Songwriter of the Year” at the 2021 IBMA bluegrass awards. His songs have been recorded by dozens of artists (Billy Strings, Tim O’Brien, the SteelDrivers, and many more), and he teaches songwriting at Belmont University. Thomm’s solo album To Live in Two Worlds was nominated for a bluegrass Grammy award in 2020, and he was featured in an “American Currents” exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. 

The tragic death of Peter Cooper in December, 2022, led Eric and Thomm to reassess their musical path, but one thing emerged with clarity: They would continue to make music together.
Their fluid acoustic guitar interplay and warm vocal harmonies will continue to be heard, all in service to the songs. Songs from the heart, songs about insomniacs, mill workers, train whistles, astronauts, lovers, painters, writers, sailors and soldiers, songs about everyday struggles, heartbreak, and triumph.
In a time of division, Eric and Thomm seek — and find — connection.