Officially, The Bacon Brothers have been making music for 27 years. They’ve put out 12 studio albums, the latest of which, Ballad of the Brothers, was released on April 19. But their musical history goes back much further than that. “From the time Kevin could bang on a pot, we were playing music together,” Michael, an Emmy-award winning composer who plays guitar, cello, and sings for the band, tells Westport Lifestyle. As legend has it, back in 1995, a friend asked the brothers— the only sons in their family of six kids— to perform together at a charity event. They called themselves The Bacon Brothers and were soon writing songs and recording albums together. “I have a lot of gratitude that my brother was around to encourage me musically,” says Kevin, who sings as well as plays guitar and percussion. “I like to make things— movies, songs, drawings. He was the one who said ‘You can really do this.’” And nearly three decades later, they still are doing it. “I don't feel any different about it now than I did back then,” says Michael. “It's just something that I love to do.”
The Bacon Brothers will be at the Westport Country Playhouse on July 25, bringing fans into the world of their latest record, Ballad of the Brothers. Making this album was a quintessential Bacon Brothers experience, in that it’s an eclectic blend of styles, sounds, and processes. (One example: they call their genre “forosoco,” because it’s a fusion of folk, rock, soul, and country.) “Sometimes we get an idea that we just start passing around. Sometimes Michael will take a piece of score that he’s been working on and add lyrics to it,” says Kevin of their songwriting process. “It’s a lot of randomness based on how busy we both are,” Michael agrees. “And then as we’re writing, we’re imagining how it might be to play it for our wives, and then the band members, and finally the audience.” It shouldn’t be a surprise that the listening experience is at the heart of what The Bacon Brothers do— both are born storytellers, whether that’s through acting or composing a score. “We’re really a songwriting band,” says Michael. “We’re not the greatest singers in the world, we’re not the greatest players in the world, but the songs— that’s our oxygen.”
This album is full of great ones, too: the title track, “Ballad of the Brothers (The Willie Door)” is Michael’s Faustian, Texas-fied take on “The Devil Went Down to Georgia;” “We Belong” is a cover of the 1984 Pat Benatar song that Kevin says he’s wanted to take on “for years;” and they worked with Kevin’s son, Travis, on the song “Take Off This Tattoo.” “Michael and I wrote the song with a couple of writers from Nashville—I don't know if I’d necessarily call it straight-up country, but I thought we could give it an edgier vibe,” says Kevin. Travis was the perfect choice for that (he fronts the industrial metal band Contracult Collective). “I love working with him,” says Kevin. “I've cut vocals with him quite a bit, and it's a funny situation where he's saying, hey, you gotta do another pass, Dad. You haven’t quite hit it yet.”
Michael’s son also works with his dad and uncle, arranging tour logistics. “It’s very much a family endeavor,” says Michael, who adds that Kevin’s wife, Emmy-award winner Kyra Sedgwick, does background work with them, too. “Kevin and I, if nothing else, we are family men,” says Michael. “It's a great feeling that our offspring are involved.”
It might be surprising that an A-list actor and an Emmy-award winning composer made the time to embark on a tour in support of their childhood love of playing music together. “It’s not like we have a hit!” Kevin jokes. But they do it because they love bringing their music to others. “The number one thing is that we put on a really, really entertaining show,” says Michael. “We have a lot of respect for what it takes for someone to come to our shows— and if they go out to dinner and they get a babysitter, that’s a lot!” And as much as they hope the audience enjoys the show, they get a thrill out of live performances, too. “To look out and see somebody actually singing along with something that you created? That's a pretty great thing,” says Kevin.
The Bacon Brothers play the Westport Country Playhouse on July 25. For tickets, visit westportplayhouse.org