The Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood is a deep roots collaboration between the blues singer-songwriter and harmonica player and some old friends: drummer Brady Blade (Indigo Girls, Buddy & Julie Miller), bassist Christopher Thomas (Melody Gardot, Norah Jones, Macy Gray), and longtime Rev guitarist Chris “Doctor” Roberts.
Their debut album, Blue Sky (released April 17, 2020) came on the heels of The Rev’s 2018 acclaimed, politically charged Breaks it Down. 2019 saw him alighting in Texas, where the South begins, the West ends, and something else is taking shape – a world away, geographically and culturally, from his native LA. Here, he gathered together the Brotherhood, creating a sense of home in his rootlessness. Blade, Thomas, and Roberts provide not only musical, but also spiritual and emotional support for embracing new territory, artistically and otherwise.
Prior to emerging as the Reverend in 2013, folks knew Shawn Amos as producer (Solomon Burke’s Live in Nashville and Rhino box set Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones) and Americana singer-songwriter who lived a fantastical Hollywood childhood—one The Rev would document in his semi-autobiographical debut 2022 novel, Cookies & Milk.
Unlike past Shawn Amos collaborations with Matthew Sweet and Solomon Burke, the Brotherhood is in it for the long haul. “Everybody feels pride of ownership,” the Rev says.
Clearly, from the barn-burning blues stomp of “Counting Down the Days” and “Troubled Man” (featuring Ruthie Foster) to the smoky R & B of “Albion Blues” to the rollicking “27 Dollars,” the Brotherhood is, indeed, down.