If you’ve attended a Ben Folds show in recent years, you may remember Tambo-Man, the mysterious figure who appeared on stage to play the tambourine and occasionally the guitar. Tambo-Man is actually former tour manager Chad Chapin, a Grammy-nominated drummer in his own right, who got the role, as the story goes, when Folds had a dream that Chad was playing drums during a show. Chad comes from a musical family – he’s played the drums since childhood, and his brother Lonnie plays bass. They got their start playing in the band at their dad’s church and went on to back up Michael Tait in his Christian rock band TAIT, where Chad earned the reputation of “the Tommy Lee of Christian rock”.
The two brothers have now teamed up with another pair of brothers, Casey and Corey Parnell, all from the same town in Oregon but now living and working in Nashville. Aptly-named, the band The Brethren have released their first single, I Ain’t Got You. The Parnell brothers have been writing and touring for the last decade, and have put their musical experience together with the Chapins and the deep resources of Music City. When Covid hit and the world stopped, Chad says, “the four of us got together and played purely for the love of music! There was no one telling us what to sound like or what to sing about. This is pure love and from the heart! I feel like I am 7 again!” The sound of the band is strong and full, the vocals are on point and the lyrics tell relatable stories. They describe I Ain’t Got You as “the idea of having everything but when you don’t have your girl at your side, you don’t have anything at all.”
Even if country music isn’t your genre, give the song a listen. It’ll catch your ear and you won’t be able to stop singing it. It’s available on your favorite digital platform, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
