Alex and Drew Fitzkee may be young but the sounds they produce have a mature, bluesy feel that belies their ages. The Fitzkee Brothers have an affinity for that guitar-driven Southern-tinged rock of bands like The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and Tedeschi Trucks. In fact, the duo has become a staple in the Allman Betts Family Revival performances alongside Duane Betts, Devon Allman, and Larry McCray. In fact, Post Malone is quoted as saying, “You guys are like the mini fucking Allman Brothers!”

I caught up with Alex and Drew recently in between tour stops in a lead up to a number of local gigs, including with Peter Levin at Rams Head On Stage and the Baygrass Music Festival, to talk about recording, their influences, and more. 

These Subtle Sounds: 

There we go. It’s great to talk to you guy. One of our bloggers, Frank, was telling me all about you guys recently and then I turned around and you ended up performing at [WTMD] FirstThursdays [Festival]. The one that just wrapped up at the beginning of the [July]. 

By the way, [that was an] incredible set, um, I know it was kind of soggy, but it turned out great. I mean, it was such an amazing afternoon. 

Drew Fitzkee:

Yeah, it was, it was a, it was a good time. Yeah, it was cool. It was like, it had been a minute since we played with Will Bart (guitar), and, you know, we do a lot of other stuff. So like we back Melody Trucks and we’re going on tour with Peter Levin (organ/keyboards). We’re hitting the road with Joe Marcinek (guitarist) at the end of the week. Like, we do a lot of other things with other people because we’re kind of like a hire-able rhythm section. I mean, my drummer and I are pretty tight. [laughs]

TSS:

I imagine so. 

Drew: 

It’s pretty easy for people to be like, yeah, let’s just get the Fitzkees on this gig, so that way we don’t have to worry about whether or not the rhythm section will be locked or whatever or if they’ll learn the material. So they just call us and we do the thing. Fitzkee Brothers is kind of like our main focus – our creative output. Fitzkee Brothers and Melody Trucks [and] the album we just did with her. 

Alex Fitzkee:

So it was really, do that on like a really, big stage with the, with a band that we really love 

TSS:

I guess as brothers, you kind of automatically have this incredible connection. Watching you guys, I was blown away. How did you officially start as a band? 

Drew:

Essentially since Alex and I were in middle school. Every band that we’ve ever been in has been us as the rhythm section. Every time that we would have to figure something out with a guitar player, like he couldn’t make gigs or it wasn’t working creatively, we would have to pivot and rebrand. And I think sometime around my senior year of high school, we decided that we’re sick of rebranding. We’re just gonna hire guitar players to play our music. 

Alex:

And we’re Fitzkee Brothers, because that way we don’t have to rebrand because it’s just our thing. Our first song was 2023, I believe. We released it in October. 

TSS:

Wasn’t that “Give You All My Love,” right? 

Alex:

It was. October, you could say, was the birth of the project. 

Check out the official lyric video for “Give You All My Love” by Fitzkee Brothers:

TSS:

That’s incredible. You’ve worked with a lot of huge influential artists. How did that all start? Like, [with] Melody Trucks? It seems like you are the go to guys for many of these legendary artists. 

Alex:

A lot of it comes, you know, here and there through different opportunities, but it mainly came through the camp. 

Drew: 

Yeah. Well, that I would say for Melody for sure. 

Alex: 

Yeah, our first year we went to the camp called Roots Rock Revival, which is actually coming up pretty soon, which is really fun. It’s this camp in the Catskills in Big Indian, New York. 

Drew:

Music Masters Collective Camp. Yeah, yeah. the brand. Basically, it’s a lot of the jam band heavy hitters, so that being our first year [it] was like Oteil Burbridge (Dead & Company, Allman Brothers), Amy Helm, Melody Trucks, Barry Oakley Jr. 

Alex: 

They, we had, they had Duane Betts there that year. They had Phil Lesch. Marco Benevento from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. And they were the instructors. 

Drew: 

So basically you go to that camp for a week. And during the day, you take lessons from them. And then at the end of the day, one project. 

Alex: 

Oh, yeah, and the North Mississippi All-Stars. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, so [we were] surrounded by Butch Trucks, Oteil Burbridge… So that’s like the nucleus. By the time we got there, Butch had passed. 

Drew: 

So, basically you watch a show that night and then they send you out to jam and we just learned so much from that. 

TSS:

Wow. 

Drew:

I guess it was just Melody seeing how we worked and how we played. She really enjoyed it. So, she decided to try and take us on the road.

Alex: 

And then doing a project that, you know, she wanted to expand her father’s vision by taking the kids from the camp on the road safely. So at this time I was probably like 15 or something.

Drew: 

2022, 2023, so I was 17 or 18. I think I was 18 because I think she said something like I could take you out on the road, but not you [referencing Alex]. I don’t want both of you together. So I’m gonna, rather than you coming out on the road with me. 

Yeah. So it was cool. She’s done that format a little bit and then, but we just ended up sticking as her band. So she’s always been real nice and she’s obviously family to us, but a lot of the people who are in opportunities that we’ve had come from that camp because they are all in the same place for a week. Especially the P-Funk [All Stars] stuff. 

TSS

Yeah. 

Drew:

One year, George [Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic]’s grandson came by himself, and he brought Clip [Payne, Parliament Funkadelic] with him. A lot of Clip was year two. 

There’s not really that much of a connection between the Allman Brothers and P-Funk, but because they were both at the end, they kind of made one. Well, look, the common factors between Allman Brothers and P-funk are Otiel Burbridge, Nicky Glassby, and us.

Alex:

That’s about it. So, yeah, a good bit comes from the camp, but then there’s people you know from the camp and it just branches out. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if you take a lot of the opportunities that we’ve gotten and trace it back to the camp.

That definitely changed their lives, and, excited to go back this year, but, Definitely. Big factor. Yeah. So when Butch was alive, Melody’s father. He would take young aspiring artists out on the road and had them tour with him. Melody kind of wanted to further that vision.

Drew:

She saw our like work ethic and how much we study the music. You know, I always try to go back to the source. Like, if you want to sound like the artists that you idolized, you have to listen to what they listen to. 

TSS:

Right. 

Drew:

So trace the influences. So she kind of saw that. And she made me her musical director and I would write set lists and write transitions through songs and stuff like that. That’s kind of become a common factor with Fitzkee Brothers, but she liked working with us so much that she just hired us as her band. 

TSS:

That’s incredible

Drew:

At the start, it was Melody Trucks, featuring the Kitzkee Brothers, and then we started writing, and she was like, this is a band, we’re all equals here. So it’s Melody Trucks and the Fitzkee Brothers. 

TSS:

Even before the camp did you all have a lot of music in the house? Are there other musicians in your family?

Drew:

Not really. If we did, we would have a guitar player. [laughs] 

Alex: 

Before the camp, Drew and I were raised basically punk musicians. That’s what got us into music. [It] was like Blink-182 and Green Day and that sort of thing when we were in middle school, elementary school, That’s what we were touring around, but I guess touring is not the right word, but we were playing local bars and stuff with that project, and we went into our first year [at camp] completely cold. I mean, I think I knew like three Allman Brothers songs and that was about it. We didn’t really know who anybody was. 

Drew:

And I think it kind of benefited us because, you know, we weren’t afraid to talk to them about anything, but we’ve learned. We’ve basically been sucked into this, this jam band scene and this Allman Brothers thing and just been consuming it for the past couple years. 

Alex:

We weren’t raised on it or anything. And, you know, nobody was a musician in our family. Drew just had a hyperfixation on playing the bass when he was little. And I just accidentally picked the most complimentary instrument to him. So, it worked out. And we were soccer players. We liked playing music and then we both made the decision that music was more fun. 

Drew: 

Yeah, well, it was really easy too, because we get along. So like if we did it, if we weren’t friends, this would suck. 

Alex: 

Yeah, but I’m really grateful that he and I are as tight as we are. And, you know, we compliment each other. When we were playing soccer, I played goalkeeper, and he was the striker, so we would stand in the backyard and he would just shoot at me while I was on goal. And, you know, he has a very creative mind when it comes to songwriting. 

Drew:

Yeah. So that’s kind of his forte, but I just love playing music for people. So like the live show is really my playground, but when it comes to like writing the tunes and being in the studio and stuff, I mean, we still throw input at each other, like he’ll be behind the kit and he’ll look over and I’ll call a transition and he’ll be like, ‘No, what?” That’s so wild. 

Alex: 

Like, he’ll show me a riff and I’ll be like, ‘Why? Yeah. Like, that doesn’t fit there.’ But then, you know, most of the time it’s like, I try to hear him out a little bit and then I’m like,’Oh, that’s cool!’ 

You know, some of the most dividing things that can happen in music come creatively over writing music and that sort of thing. Who gets their song on the album and all that stuff, and we have a good structure to it with the respect of dividing and conquering.  Drew gets the live shows. I get the studio, but also like, if there is mild pushback with each, it’d be kind of okay, this is a live show, so I’m going to give Drew a little grace. This might be whack, but it could be cool. 

Let’s see what happens. Oh, same thing there because I don’t play any melodic instruments. I just play drums and I sing and I write all the songs in my head and then I sing it to Drew. So any gray area that’s in there, he helps to fill in and he changes, and if it sounds good to me then we’re good. Because I’m not thinking, like, oh, I’m in this key right now, and I’m going to use that chord. I’m like, it sounds all right. 

Alex: 

And sometimes it’s cool to Drew. Drew will be like, oh, that’s really cool that you did this because it works with this and I’m like, I don’t know. It just sounded good to me. 

Drew: 

Right, right. So sometimes, he’ll bring something to me songwriting wise and he’s like, ‘Is this cool?’ And I’ll be like, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ And then he’ll say, ‘Okay, so then can we change it?’ Or we’ll be in the middle of a show, and we’ll be playing a song that’s in a quick [4/4 time signature]. And then I’ll call a tune that’s in 6/8 and he’s like,’What?’ We’re getting pretty good at that. Like getting from 6/8 to there. There’s a lot of our live shows, we’ll play a song, and then we’ll be jamming for a while, and then I hear Drew tease another song, and then the mission is, how do we get from point A to point B. 

Alex:

Yeah. And not just meandering, you know, because you’re always trying to work harder at what you’re doing so that way it’s better. Like a Bob Dylan quote that I go over in my head over and over and over again is, he once said that an artist should be in a constant state of becoming. 

Drew:

And I am always trying to get better, learn the tune better, write better set lists, and get more originals together with him so we can get them out. But you know, sometimes it’s hard. Like, sometimes you’re, uh, you know, like, he and I aren’t gonna do a whole lot of writing out here right now. I mean, we might in Nashville because I’ll probably have a guitar around, but like… We left yesterday to go see Phish and we’re not coming home until August ninth. Yeah. So. 

Alex:

A lot of [time] is gonna be us on stage rather than like working in the studio. But dude, when we have time off, it’s like, I’m always trying to find [Drew] like ‘Yo, let’s go, let’s do it.’ And he’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s do it.’ 

TSS:

Speaking of studio, you all recently recorded down in Muscle Shoals, right? 

Drew:

Yep. 

TSS:

And at FAME [Recording Studios]? 

Alex:

Yeah. We were down there for a couple days. I think it was like four, and we recorded the record with Melody. And it [was] a good bit of Fitkzee songs and Melody songs. For that session, it was me, Drew, Melody, Peter Levin, and Will Bart. 

TSS:

Wow. 

Drew:

Will Bart. Oh, and [legendary organist] Spooner Oldham. Yeah. 

TSS:

Wow. 

Drew:

And we had guests. Trucks and Spooner Oldham came by. Our producer was Dave Murphy. Our engineer was Spencer [Coats]. God bless him. I love that man. He’s a legend. 

TSS:

What was it like recording there? The list of names [who have recorded there] is like the who’s who of rock and blues.

Drew:

Yeah, it was wild. I mean, they’re very open about the history of the place. I mean, it’s borderline a museum that’s also a recording studio. 

But we’d have to stop halfway through each day because [patrons would] come in for the tour, and we’re just sitting there eating sandwiches like, ‘Hey.’ Yeah, it was always at lunchtime. They’re like, ‘Welcome to iconic Studio A.’ And we’re just like musicians in their natural habitat. But it was sick. I mean they have the albums all over the wall. You can definitely feel it. It was the best recording session I’ve been in for sure. 

It was such a homey vibe with everybody. I mean, we all watched the documentary before we went down, so we were all hyped up and we understood the history of it. You could definitely feel it and it’s still very family oriented. The same family runs it. 

Yeah, Rick Hall, the man who founded it, and his wife still run it. And Rodney, his son, still works there, and it’s awesome. And, you know, we’re freaking Duane Allman fanatics, so he’s everywhere. 

Alex:

It was good mojo. So with the recording – we brought in Spooner. It was awesome because that’s basically his home. 

Drew:

Yeah. He’s on 90% of the records on the wall. For me, it was like, you know, I’m very much a musical historian. I’m very obsessive about who played on what. And when it happened and how it happened, because I like to think about the chain reactions. You know, I was talking about influences. So Duane Allman sounds like this, because you listen to this guy, and that guy listened to this guy, and that came from this place, and that’s how it happened. Like stuff like that. So for me being in that studio, it was like I was having my mind blown every day. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the corner where my favorite band played their first jam session.’ 

Alex:

Oh, oh, dude, this was crazy. So I was in studio B. And they have a picture up on the wall of Berry Oakley, who’s like my favorite bass player ever, like him and George Porter. It was like a picture of Barry Oakley, Duane Allman, and Jaimo [drummer/Allman Brothers] jamming for the first time. 

And they were, like, ‘This happened in that corner, right there.’ Melody’s mom was there, who was Butch [Trucks]’s ex-wife. She was there for the entirety of the Allman Brothers’ career. Yeah, we call her Nana. So we’re hanging out and I’m seeing this picture for the first time. Nana’s just like looking around and I’m like, ‘Wow. I wonder if this was the spot.’ So there’s a story in the Allman Brothers lore where Duane Allman is with the Allman Brothers band, and he closes the door behind him and turns around and he goes, ‘That’s it, goddamn it. If any of you want out of this band, you’re going to have to fight me out of this band.’ And I’m, I’m standing in FAME [Studios] and I go, ‘Wow, I wonder if that happened right here.’ And Nana peeps up out of the corner and she goes, ‘No, that was at my house,’ and I went, ‘What?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, that was at my house in Jacksonville in 1969.’

Drew:

Musical directing is such an art form to me. Like letting the people in your band do their job, but also, like, steering them where they should be headed is such a difficult thing to do. And like for me, my favorite musical directors are Gary Shider from Parliament Funkadelic. Duane Allman, Frank Zappa, and Colonel Bruce Hampton. Because, Duane was the guiding light of the Allman Brothers band. He didn’t sing. He sang like 3 songs in their song rotation for the three years that they were touring. And he was the front man. And, like, the power of his vision is so important to me. Talking to people that met him is just so inspiring to me. So I asked Spooner [Oldham] ‘Did you ever get to play with Duane here? Like, did you ever get to record a session with him here?’ And he goes, ‘No, I don’t think that I recorded with him here, but you know, I was here for that whole ‘Hey Jude’ thing. He was like, ‘Yeah, I was standing right there,’ and he pointed to where he was standing in the console room, and I was like, ‘Dude, that’s too much, man.’ That single session is the birth of the Allman Brothers jam. That is the solo that put Duane on the map to fame, to have him be able to get a record contract for him to form the Allman Brothers band.

And he was like, ‘Well, actually, I played with him in New York. I didn’t play with him down here,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, what? That’s crazy.’ So he was so nice. We had him on three tracks. One was like a softer track, one was a ballad, and then one was like a hardcore, Almman-like 11 minute instrumental. He just kind of sat down with each chart and just nailed it in like two takes. That was the most tasteful piano playing I’d ever heard in my life. And it was just such a cool vibe because like when we first heard that Spooner might come by and we were like, ‘That’s awesome!’  How does that even happen? 

Alex:

I’m just incredibly grateful that we got to have that experience. It was the best studio session I’ve ever had in my life. I’m so looking forward to people here in this album and we have the roughs and the roughs sound insane. Like just cut off the floor sounds crazy, not mastered, like just mixed and balanced, like the day after we were done cutting. 

TSS:

Speaking of which, is there a release date coming up? 

Drew:

I don’t know yet, because we’re still getting some guest parts on [the record]. I don’t know if I’m speaking out of turn here when I say this, but we’re having the North Mississippi All-Stars as features on one of the tracks. 

TSS:

That’s incredible. 

Drew:

And we’re getting some parts together, we’re gonna get it mixed. We’re gonna press it on vinyl, so I’m not really sure [about a release date]. Maybe in a year’s time from now, maybe longer than that. Because we work with so many different folks, like we’re kind of in the process of multiple projects at all times. So it’s like, we have the record with Melody completely cut. We have to get it mastered – like all that stuff. We just put out a live record on vinyl for First Thursday [Festival]. That was the release date, but it’s not on streaming yet. 

I think we’re gonna throw as much of the vinyl as we can, kind of keep that exclusive. That was a really, really [special] set that we did at Mother’s [Grille], at Mother’s in Arnold, Maryland.We did this really professionally recorded thing, and we were like ‘Oh, this is gonna be the one.’ We played this set at Mother’s which was, like, three hours [long].

And it gives us so much more creative space to improvise and like we get to play all the songs that we wanted to play. I mean, usually we still have to cut stuff because we’re, you know, that’s kind of who we are. We just, it, it’s just so much fun to play. We just keep playing. That Mother’s set was really fun and it’s like two songs per side because you can fit 20 minutes per side and that’s kind of what we average. Like 7 songs an hour. 

TSS:

I think you all are coming back to the area. [You are coming to] Ram’s Head [On Stage In Annapolis] in maybe a week or two, right? 

Drew:

In August – August 8th. 

Alex:

Yes, we’re gonna be playing with the Peter Levin Trio, or we’re two-thirds of the Trio. 

Drew:

Yeah, Pete has been a joy to work with. Like, I love that dude. It was just really great to work with him, and, you know, when you get to like a rehearsal, you’re kind of feeling each other out. I’m, like, how much can I get away with, improvising wise, because, like, as a bass player, there’s a certain amount of pocket and ground to be held. And so, as the rehearsal went on, I was just trying more and more. So, he was cool. He was just a machine in there. It was our first time at FAME. Peter lives in Nashville and it’s a relatively short drive to FAME. So he does session work there all the time. 

Alex:

And he’s good buddies there. So he was just like, locked in because like session work is a big part of what Peter does too. And, you know, Greg’s last album, he was on that session, which we talked about a lot. But, uh, Yeah, it’s, it was just interesting to have somebody there because we were all wide-eyed and happy or like, oh wow, this is amazing. And they’re like, what about you, Peter? he’s like, I was here last week and we’re like, okay. 

But, just, the personality meshed really well. And with Peter and Will, who we both met through the camp. Will is such a joy. I love that man.

Drew:

Yeah, yeah. Will is like our guy. This trio is gonna be sick with Peter. It’s gonna be a good time. He leans more towards the funk-blues type thing. He’s a lot funkier than I pegged him originally [to be] because of the southern rock world that he’s in, but he can do it all. And he’s a really good mentor to both of us. So I’m excited. Literally, after we get on this call we’re headed to Nashville to rehearse with them for a while.and just sit the town of Nashville for a week, and just chill with them. So. 

TSS:

You have a pretty packed schedule coming up. Is it normally like that? 

Drew:

Well, no, this is in the summer. 

Alex:

This is a big stretch for us. I mean, you know, it kind of depends on what festivals we can get on and stuff like that. We’re usually booking, you know, pretty much every weekend. I think we have a gig, and if we don’t, then we’re probably traveling somewhere. 

TSS:

Is this the longest stretch of music festivals, or is this kind of normal? 

Drew:

I would say that this is. You know, we’re always working towards doing more.

Alex:

I would say that there are more music festivals than we did last year. We are very, very happy to be on Baygrass this year. 

Drew:

We’ve worked production on Baygrass a couple years in the past and all the promoters and stuff have always been a joy to work with and they’ve always been in our corner and fans of the product and, you know, just like, great folks to like be around and, you know, um, they’re, they’re a promoter, uh, has just like, He’s been waiting for like the right moment to like pull the trigger on this and he’s like, we’re gonna have Little Feat close the festival. So we have a jam band on the way up at the start and the jam band on the way out at the back. 

Little Feat is one of those bands for me. Like, you know, those guys played with Duane. 

Alex:

Like, Kenny Gradney [bassist for Little Feat] and Sam [Clayton drummer for Little Feat]. Yeah, those guys were on tour with Delaney [Bramlett] and friends when Duane was on the road with them. So it’s like, you know, they’re all from the same old school of jamming, you know? And we are really stoked to see those guys and to talk with those guys. 

Drew:

And Gerrard was in Greg’s band with Peter. So, um, really stoked to talk to him and, you know, get to know those guys and. Ah, just the music, man. Yeah. Just the music. It is a big part of the world, so that’s like a pillar, you know, like the bands that make us and our sound is like the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, the band of Little Feat, and to be able to see them live, it’s gonna be fun. And dude, the whole Zappa connection too. 

TSS:

Well, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. And like I said, I mean, um, You know, during First Thursdays, I was a little worried with the weather and everything, but when you guys came on, it was just incredible. 

Drew:

Oh yeah, that was a really good time. Time for us and uh, crowd and everything was awesome. So we’re really fortunate that we got to play and went as well as it did. 

TSS:

Well, I want to thank you both. This has been amazing and I can’t wait to see it probably within the next month or so. 

Drew:

Cool. Yeah, dude. 

TSS:

Sure. By the way, [as avid soccer fans] with the World Cup and everything, you guys must be kind of on cloud nine. 

Drew:

Oh, dude, I’m wearing my Spain jersey right now. My grandmother is Spanish. 

Alex: 

Like, these are the two countries we root for or US and Spain. So, I love my boy Messi and it would be a dream for him, but… Spain. I don’t know. We can do it. I think it’s time. I think it’s time. I think it’s time. I think Messi’s had his moment. Otherwise, it’s never gonna hit. Come on. 

TSS:

Yeah, go Spain. 

Drew:

Yeah, dude. There’s that picture of baptizing them all. Like, come on. Let’s do it. 

________________

Don’t miss The Fitzkee Brothers on the road near you. The duo has a number of shows lined up below, and find more information on their show with Peter Levin at Rams Head On Stage:

8/8 Rams Head on stage – with Peter Levin, Annapolis, MD
8/25 Freeman Arts Pavilion, “55 years of Allman Brothers At Filmore East”, Allstar cast of Allman Brothers Family members, Selbyville, DE
8/29 Pat Garrett Amphitheater, Strausstown, PA
9/10 Big Blues Bender (sold out), Joe Marcinek, Melody Trucks, Las Vegas NV
9/13 June Lake Jam Fest, Joe Marcinek, Melody Trucks, June Lake, CA
9/19 Annapolis Baygrass Festival, MD

DETAILS:

Peter Levin with The Fitzkee Brothers
Rams Head On Stage
33 West Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Saturday, August 8, 2026
DOORS: 7
SHOW: 8

TICKETS HERE