Brother and The Hayes
Dallas, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2017 | SELF
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Feature /// Drinking on a Monday Night with The Bingamans
BY JOSEPH RAPOLLA JR
April 12, 2016
Some things —musical talent, kindness, and great hair—just simply run in the family.
It’s a Monday night in Nashville, Tennessee, and David Bingaman is drinking a beer whilst singing a song about drinking on a Monday night. With his younger sister Jennie Hayes Kurtz (née Bingaman) to his right onstage, the two quip that this is the first time they’ve gotten the privilege of playing their song “Drinking on a Monday” on an actual Monday.
The duo (who go by The Bingamans), who could pass for twins with their matching long, blonde locks, are polite and pleasant onstage. As they play their way through their set of folky-rocky-bluesy-country tunes, they seem genuinely happy to be there, and genuinely humble that anyone other than their parents, who were indeed in the crowd, is listening. This says nothing about their talent, but everything about their character.
The Dallas-bred siblings found music in different ways, at different times in life. Jennie Hayes, younger than her brother by two years, grew up singing in the church choir. Possessing a natural instrument with her voice, she was given a guitar by her parents one Christmas—which David promptly stole and to begin learning how to play ZZ Top on. By the end of high school, Jennie Hayes “was upstairs singing choir, and [David] was downstairs playing blues, punk, and metal,” said David after their recent set at The Family Wash in East Nashville.
By the end of high school, David had mastered the guitar, like many American boys, in his garage, and went off to the University of Arkansas for college. Jennie Hayes would follow her brother to Fayetteville, and it was here that the two really became close for the first time in their adult lives. Tragedy, as it often does, served as the catalyst for their strengthening bond; a girlfriend dumped David, and Jennie Hayes would bring him Sonic to cheer him up. After all, nothing says, “I love you bro” like a Sonic slush and some tots.
Upon graduation, David trekked further east to Music City, where he began playing guitar in rock bands and continuing to write on his own. Bingo—as many close friends call him—further cemented his reputation as a versatile guitarist with musical interests ranging from classic rock to country and blues.
And as much as his move to Nashville was about musical immersion, David’s journey was also about self-exploration. An avid outdoorsman, he once spent 10 days alone in the wilderness, writing songs with nothing except a notebook, a harmonica, and his own company. He admits it was fun, but that he probably “wouldn’t do it again.”
Back in civilization, Jennie Hayes wound up moving to Nashville as well after her graduation, and it was here in Tennessee’s capital that “The Bingamans” were officially born. They began co-writing and jamming together, and they suddenly realized that it sounded damn good. Before long they were playing gigs around town and developing as a reputation as the friendliest looking brother-sister musical duo since The Carpenters.
Today, the duo does write together, although they admit that they have a bit of a Lennon & McCartney relationship. Some of their tunes are written solely by one person, while some are written together, or started separately and finished collaboratively. The result is pure fusion: it’s Creedence Clearwater Revival meets Steve Earle with a touch of Bob Wills. It’s a Texas-influenced burrito, stuffed with goodness as organic as the place where it comes from.
There are some obvious differences between sister and brother onstage. Jennie Hayes is quieter, with both a look and a voice that is more cultured and refined. David is snarkier, and he both plays and sings with more grit, literally and metaphorically speaking.
Offstage, however, these differences subside; the two are clearly—in every sense of the idiom—cut from the same cloth. This isn’t surprising or unique to see in siblings, considering the power of these crazy things called “genes,” yet there’s still something endearing about it. Some things, I suppose—musical talent, kindness, and great hair—just simply run in the family. - LocklandSpringstein
Discography
Tennessee Nights “Anywhere Man” Single Release March 1, 2019 “Coming Home” Single Release March 8, 2019 Album Release Date: March 29, 2019 Written and produced by David Bingaman and Jennie Hayes Kurtz Recorded and Mixed at The Fleetwood Shack by Bill Reynolds in Nashville, TN Guitar and Vocals: David Bingaman - Bass: Casey Conway - Pedal Steel: CJ Colandrea Mandolin: David Freeman - Guitar and Vocals: Jennie Hayes Kurtz Drums: Erin Nelson - Fiddle: Lauren Saks
The Dead End EP
1. Ugly Faced Woman
2. Dead End Dallas
3. Give In To The Day
4. Midnight Train
5. Corn Whiskey
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Bio
Brother (a.k.a. David Bingaman) and The Hayes (a.k.a. Jennie Hayes Kurtz) are siblings hailing from Dallas, Texas. Growing up, Jennie Hayes sang in the choir while David taught himself to play guitar by learning the songs of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and ZZ Top. They both became interested in folk music and songwriting in college and began to collaborate, performing together around Fayetteville, AR. They found that their love of the blues, country music, and bluegrass was the perfect vehicle for their playful, honest, and story-based songwriting.
David and Jennie Hayes decided to move to Nashville after college and dabbled with careers in the music industry. Early on, Jennie Hayes interned with a booking agency and David interned with an entertainment law firm. They settled into day jobs where they were surrounded by music on a regular basis. Jennie Hayes began working for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's museum services team where she received an extensive education on the history of country music and helped with exhibits, doing things like dress mannequins with Alan Jackson's bluejeans. She eventually joined the museum's education team where she wrote and taught songwriting curriculum and organized tours and songwriting programs for students.
David worked for three years at the historic Bluebird Cafe where he fried up chicken fingers for Bluebird regulars and legendary songwriters like Kris Kristofferson and Don Schlitz. He even made it into the pilot episode of ABC's Nashville. David often let his sister sneak in the back of the cafe where she could stand in the kitchen hallway and listen to some of the best songwriters in the world. The siblings describe their first few years in Nashville as a type of songwriting graduate school.
Though surrounded by Nashville's best, David and Jennie Hayes could not kick their desire to write and play their own music. They made some career changes and officially formed Brother and The Hayes in 2017, releasing 'The Dead End EP'.
Their music utilizes blood harmony, blues guitar, and real life stories of travel, joy, and heartache. Their primary influences include Doc Watson, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Gillian Welch, and Levon Helm. In 2019 Brother and The Hayes produced and released their first full-length album, 'Tennessee Nights' and toured all over the country playing venues like Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, Third and Lindsley and The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Sundown at The Granada in Dallas, and many more venues in cities like Denver, Houston, Austin, Chicago, Washington D.C. etc.
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