A Soulful Serenade by The Tuskey Brothers in Atlanta

The Teskey Brothers entertained Atlanta Thursday, up-seated from their originally scheduled venue to Tabernacle due to ticket demand. For a band with three albums, that’s not unheard of, but it’s still remarkable that a blues/soul band from Australia has captured an American audience that quickly.

Allmusic.com cites the band as a “soulful, rock- and blues- influenced outfit.” Well, which is it? There’s a Stratocaster and Telecaster involved, plus trumpet and sax. That lends itself towards the blues, but it’s singer/guitarist Josh Teskey’s aching, bleeding, yearning delivery that settles the classification as a soul band, at times bringing him to his knees at the front of the stage and absorbing the crowd reaction at the end of song bringing his hands to his chest. They’re a soul band with blues influences.

Other telltale signs favoring soul rather than the blues: There were a lot more couples attending than would make it for a blues show… and women. The themes of their songs are a little more diverse as well: Longing for a past love, supporting a partner during difficult times, finding relationships hard, helping a friend who is alone, infatuation of a new love, leaving with regrets… The Teskey Brothers cover it all, and Josh is a masterful emoter, his voice soaked in earnest expressions.

Co-founder Sam Teskey plays lead guitar and occasional backing vocals. He comes from a less-is-more guitar styling as soul music doesn’t require blistering fretwork, or, as Josh put it, he “sings” through the guitar. A solo finds him landing on the right note and bending the strings to express the emotion of the song. The brothers co-write their songs, but they should also be credited with a Van Morrison-like sense of timing and placement for brass to supplement a song, a deft touch that supplements or punctuates their songs.

The opening notes of most of their songs resounded immediately with the their fans, including those from their 2023 release The Winding Way . After all, fans only have a few albums to embrace so far. Highlights included a cover of Ray Charles’ “Drown in My Own Tears,” lyrically a perfect fit for their set and perhaps a nod to playing in his birth state. “I’m Leaving” because it’s just that great a song, and the closer, “What Will Be,” which offers an instrumental stretch for the band, including Josh playing harmonica. The set would be helped by another “let loose” song earlier in the set for a change of pace, but this made a great closer.

The band returned for an encore which doubled down on a recurring theme with “Pain and Misery” followed by the tremendously popular “Hold Me,” which feels its way through being a couple while also needing a little space. (Fans of that notion should check out Lucinda Williams’ “Side of the Road”).