Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz made their separate ways to Nashville two decades ago, each with a musical career well underway. Now a formidable duo, their partnership is an extraordinary sum of its parts.

Their latest album, Simple Motion, hit #1 on the Folk DJ chart (FAI) in March, 2024, and between steady touring this year they’re recording another.

Eric moved to Nashville from Washington D.C., where he was leading his acclaimed roots-rock band Last Train Home. He was also a staff writer at The Washington Post where he covered the area’s nightlife, arts, and music scene for a decade. Last Train Home was named D.C.’s “Artist of the Year” in 2003 by the Washington Area Music Association, and the band relocated to Nashville a year later.

Thomm grew up in Germany, where as an eleven-year-old boy he saw country music legend Bobby Bare sing on a television show. It was a bolt out of the blue, and right then Thomm knew that his future was in Nashville. (Can you blame him? The power of Bare singing “Pour me another tequila, Sheila, take off that red satin dress” was not lost on the youngster.)
While touring Europe playing guitar in rock bands, Thomm saved his money and kept dreaming of Nashville. On his second try, he won the immigration lottery (yes, there is such a thing) and headed to Music City. There, he immediately became an indispensable sideman to the likes of Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, David Olney, Kim Richey, and others, while also building a studio and a reputation as a producer and songwriter. With three songs on the new Billy Strings record, he is definitely a songwriter on the rise!

Eric, after leaving his writing career at The Washington Post, had built Last Train Home into a powerful touring unit. Moving to Nashville in 2004, he launched Red Beet Records, a label with an eye on all the talent in his East Nashville neighborhood. One neighbor was journalist and songwriter Peter Cooper, whose debut album Eric released on Red Beet. Eric and Peter’s friendship evolved into a duo, one that impressed critics and audiences over the course of four albums and hundreds of live shows across the U.S. and Europe. The two also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Children’s Record after making I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow.

While opening for Nanci Griffith one night, Brace and Cooper realized that the man playing guitar with her, Thomm Jutz, was someone they needed to share their musical journey with. When Thomm said the feeling was mutual, the Brace/Cooper/Jutz trio was born. Two powerful albums ensued: Profiles in Courage, Frailty & Discomfort, and Riverland (both on Brace’s Red Beet label).

On those albums, songs by Brace and Cooper are side by side with those of Thomm, who won “Songwriter of the Year” at the 2021 IBMA bluegrass awards. His songs have been recorded by dozens of artists, and he teaches songwriting at Belmont University. Thomm’s solo album To Live in Two Worlds was nominated for a bluegrass Grammy award in 2020, and he was featured in an “American Currents” exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

In 2015, Brace wrote a musical based on the California Gold Rush, Hangtown Dancehall, featuring such Americana stars as Kelly Willis, Tim O’Brien, and Darrell Scott.

Brace also produced a powerful solo album by the lead singer of The Persuasions, Jerry Lawson.

The tragic death of Peter Cooper in December, 2022, led Eric and Thomm to reassess their musical path, but one thing emerged with clarity: They would continue to make music together. Their first album, Simple Motion, was released in February, 2024, and there’s much more to come.

Their fluid acoustic guitar interplay and warm vocal harmonies will continue to be heard, all in service to the songs. Songs from the heart, songs about insomniacs, mill workers, train whistles, astronauts, lovers, sailors and soldiers, songs about everyday struggles, heartbreak, and triumph.

In a time of division, Eric and Thomm seek — and find — connection.