American Babies - 08/29/08 - Main Stage

Brothers Past is a band from West Chester, PA that has a loyal following. Depending on where you’re from there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of them… or you hear too much about them. The band typically falls into the jamband category, but they also incorporate a lot of electronic almost industrial sounds in their songs. The band went through a transition period when their original drummer Rick Lowenberg left the band to pursue other interests in late June 2006.

It was about this same time guitarist Tom Hamilton branched out musically. While remaining with Brothers Past, Tom surrounded himself with some pretty extraordinary musicians including friends Joe Russo and Scott Metzger. The band formed and American Babies released a self titled album in 2007 that showcased Tom’s songwriting ability.





American Babies opened the main stage for the weekend and performed many songs from the debut album. The first time I heard songs from it I was thrown for a loop. I’ve known these guys playing in jambands. Instead of half hour, nonstop segments of music they offered radio friendly tunes. This didn’t sound anything like BP, the Duo or Electron. I don’t know if you’d categorize this as indie rock or alt country. It was a step out of the norm, which as artists they probably enjoy. If anything it shows their diversity, especially noticeable with Tom’s writing style.



You can find American Babies getting more air on XPN, and deservedly so. They ofter perform around Philadelphia and New York area venues like the World Café Live. They're no strangers to touring and festivals across the country. Don’t worry Brothers Past is still around too. Some of my favorite tunes worth checking out would be Blue Skies, Swimming At Night, Rocker, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You and Broken English.

Listen or D/L from the LMA