- Jul 13, 2018

Who are Sun Brother?

Motivational Muses Exclusive Feature | by Anastasia Logan

Photo taken from Instagram. Photo by: @juliacannonphoto.

From Nashville, Tennessee, Sun Brother is an indie folk band and describe their music as, "Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart". Originally, Sun Brother was a solo gig started by frontman Billy Toulson in Delaware. His love for music started in middle school where he found himself writing snippets of melodies in his head. The first instrument he learned to play was an unkempt acoustic guitar and then upgraded to a bass and was able to properly learn how to play. After obtaining his own acoustic guitar, the creative flood gates opened and that's where his musical journey started.

Sun Brother evolved into a band after Billy moved to Nashville and songs that were meant to be purely acoustic were altered. By shifting from a solo gig to a band, Sun Brother has been able to enhance their sound by including unique elements that masterfully shape each song to be one of a kind. Their sound is inspired by Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty and Bahamas.

In 2015, Sun Brother's first EP, Sitting. Standing. was released. This EP was recorded back in Delaware before Billy Toulson made the big move to Nashville. Recorded in a small basement studio with his friend, Frank Pullella. Sitting. Standing. furthered Billy's love for music and his decision to make music his whole life. In 2016 their single, "Unsewn" was released, the vocals and guitar in this song are amazing! The lyrics are a bit heavy, but overall it is a wonderful creation.

Now let's start chatting about the stuff people want to know about. Yup. Time to learn more about new music! Set to release in October is a seven song album. There will be some songs dropping periodically until the release. To celebrate they will be having a release show! Once I learn more I shall share with everyone! Compared to other projects this one has been incredibly rewarding in terms of how smoothing the final product is coming together. Safe to say I can not wait to see what this new album will hold!

While the achievements reached by Sun Brother have been described as "relatively low ladder stuff" I would high disagree! Sun Brother has racked up many achievements in both Nashville and Delaware. Before the big move, Sun Brother had songs featured on local radio stations. Lets be real! There is nothing cooler than driving and then hearing your own song being played for thousands of other people! Come on! That is crazy huge! But wait there's more! Nashville's Lighting 100 indie radio station hosts a writer's night and Sun Brother has one not once, but twice! They also got to do a live studio session for the station! Honestly nothing about these achievements seem low ladder at all! I just know that more will come their way.

Music takes a lot of time an dedication and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. One of the main challenges faced by Sun Brother was dedicating the right amount of time to music in order to improve. While it is important to take breaks every once in a while, taking too long of a break can halt production and that isn't always a good thing. Maintaing a proper balance between working and resting is something Sun Brother is always working on improving. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

Alright so who is ready for a not so fun, fun fact? Anyone? Well too bad! Here it comes. Billy almost died! I am not exaggerating! Back when he was 19 his appendix basically exploded, but thankfully they caught it in time and he is still with us, obviously. Okay now to end this post off on a positive note. The name Sun Brother was inspired by the song written by Portugal. The Man of their album Church Mouth. Talk about paying tribute am I right? No? Well this is awkward.

So far, Sun Brother has created some marvelous pieces of music. I can't wait to see what this new album will hold! Keep climbing up the ladder of success and continue to captivate others with these musical works of art.

Climb on!

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