Sue: I’ve seen them crowd surfing and they are a high energy show, I am excited to have with us as our guest today, The Tuten Brothers. It is Walker and Sam. Hey guys, how’s it going?
Sam: What’s Up?
Walker: What’s up? How are you doing? Thanks for having us.
Sue: Good. Well, it’s funny because one of the first things I said when you got on the call was, I asked you the pronunciation of your name. So go ahead.
Walker: Its Tuten. Like Ruten Tuten.
Sue: Tuten, Ruten Tuten. See. Now, you know. See, I was going to say Tu-ten and I’m like, is it that? Nope. Got to say it right.
Walker: Got to say it right. [crosstalk].
Sue: Ruten tuten.
Walker: We are… There’s surprisingly a good amount of Tutens in South Georgia. So you might– [crosstalk].
Sue: You’re kidding. Really?
Walker: –find us down there. Yeah.
Sam: Yeah.
Sue: Interesting. So big family in Georgia then?
Sam: Our granddad and our great-granddad were both state representatives, and their campaign slogan was like, “Be rooting for Tuten.” So…
Sue: Perfect.
Sam: I guess some people know how to say it, I guess, or something. So.
Sue: Well, its like you ask your fans. You’re rooting for Tuten, right?
Walker: That’s right. Yeah. We’re all rooting for Tuten. Come on.
Sue: So now I’ve seen some video of your shows. Now, was it you, Walker, that was crowd surfing while playing the guitar? Did I see that?
Walker: Yes, you did. It has happened. It has happened before, and Sam’s jumped out there a couple times too. I just don’t think we got as good a video of it, but yeah, we’ve both been known to jump into the crowd whenever we can. So.
Sam: Yeah.
Sue: It was so funny. So I watched a lot of your video and everything, and I’m like, man, this is high energy. You guys are having a good time, and it made me think of Low Cash. I don’t know if you’ve seen Low Cash perform before. They’re pretty high energy and super interacting with the crowd. So I can really appreciate you doing that with the crowd. So. I mean, I love it.
Walker: Yeah. We pride ourselves on having a fun live show, for sure. That’s something we know we can at least control, is how much fun we’re having and how much energy we’re putting into it. So we try and bring it every night.
Sue: So how would you describe your fans?
Walker: Ooh, interesting. They’re awesome. I mean–
Sue: In one word. Awesome.
Sam: Well, I mean, the cool thing about it is like, they’re… I mean, it started as our friends, who had come to our shows and I mean, it was like, we basically started in a big college town in Athens, Georgia. That’s where the university of Georgia is. And our friends would just come to our shows and we’d all just have a good time together, basically. And so I like to think of our, I mean, I guess our fans are a lot like our friends because it’s just like that same type of person that’s been kind of growing steadily, and we really like our fans because they’re a lot like our friends.
Walker: Right. Yeah.
Sue: So there are people you might want to hang out with?
Sam: Yeah.
Walker: For sure.
Sam: They kind of cool.
Walker: [crosstalk] And whenever we’re at shows, anytime we play and we meet the people in the crowd, it’s usually fun, good people. And so it’s always a joy to hang out with people when we go play our shows.
Sue: That’s awesome. Okay. So have you guys ever played a wedding?
Sam: Oh, yeah.
Walker: Oh, yeah. We’ve played so many. [crosstalk] We played one this past weekend.
Sue: Really?
Walker: Yeah.
Sam: Yeah.
Sue: Really?
Sam: We get asked all the time, like our friends will get married and they’ll be like, Hey, I mean, it varies. Like we play at every thing, literally everything you could play, we played it. But yeah, we played a lot of weddings. A lot of people ask us to do it and we’re like, yeah, sure. So.
Walker: Yeah.
Sue: Bar mitzvah’s?
Sam: Well, we haven’t played at bar mitzvah.
Walker: Yeah. I think when he said we play at everything, that was a little bit of a stretch, but we’ve played a lot of stuff, not everything, but yeah. We’ve done wedding ceremonies, wedding receptions, first dances, all of it.
Sue: Nice. That’s so romantic. Aww.
Walker: Oh, yeah.
Sam: Very.
Walker: We try to break out of love songs for those.
Sue: There you go. Well, and some celebration, fun songs, too.
Walker: For sure. For sure.
Sue: It’s a celebration, right?
Sam: Definitely.
Sue: So now you said you went to University of Georgia and you guys were finance majors, is that correct?
Walker: We were finance majors, writing songs in Nashville every day. How about that?
Sue: I love that. So, I mean, what did your family say when you were like, “Hey, not going to go into finance, going to go do music.”
Walker: They were supportive. They really were. I think it makes it easier on our mom that she knows that we do have finance majors because she knows we can fall back on something if we have to. But they were really supportive of us. And they were like, “Hey, if y’all want to try it, go for it. We’ll be rooting for you. And let us know if you have shows around or whatever.” And they were always real supportive, come to our shows and everything. So they’re great.
Sue: Well, I love it that your mom is like, “Oh, you have something to fall back on.” Because that’s such a mom thing.
Sam: Oh yeah, no doubt.
Sue: Like I want to make sure you’re taking care of boys.
Sam: For sure.
Walker: Yep.
Sue: Right?
Walker: Yep. That’s mama Tuten.
Sue: That’s mama Tuten? The you go. Now you guys are brothers, and so now here you are, playing together, this is your team here, your duo. Okay. Any good fights you can tell us about?
Walker: Oh, we’ve had plenty.
Sam: Yeah. Well, I mean, which one?
Walker: No, we’ve never like… It’s usually fairly adult disagreements. We never like hit each other or anything, which is probably good.
Sue: Not anymore, right?
Sam: Not anymore. Yeah. Not anymore.
Walker: Definitely growing up.
Sam: For sure. Not anymore.
Walker: Some fist fights.
Sue: Now who’s the oldest?
Sam: Guess.
Sue: Ah, I’m going to say I going to say Walker’s the oldest.
Walker: Hey, you got it right. [crosstalk] Most people say Sam.
Sue: Ah, that was a guess. Okay.
Walker: Yeah.
Sam: Nice. Yeah. Walker’s two-and-a-half years older than me.
Sue: Two-and-a-half? Okay. Yeah. So was he pretty bossy when you guys were younger?
Sam: Very bossy. Nah, I’m just kidding. He wasn’t that bossy.
Walker: I probably was.
Sue: The bossy’s the bossy brother. Bossy brother.
Walker: Oh yeah. Yeah, I’m a little older by two and a half years.
Sam: So yeah, no, he was always a good brother and we also have a younger brother. So it was always the three of us doing stuff together, and competing, and playing sports, and all the stuff that brothers do.
Sue: Okay. So what sports did you play when you were kids?
Walker: All of them. We played literally everything growing up and then I played basketball and football in high school and then basketball for a year in college. And then Sam played basketball and tennis mostly, in high school.
Sam: Yeah.
Sue: Basketball. Did you say tennis?
Sam: Yeah. I played some tennis.
Sue: Nice. All right. Very cool. So which was your best sport, Sam?
Sam: Mine was basketball, probably. I’ve definitely spent the most time on it. And tennis for me was more of a fun hobby. My tennis program wasn’t too intense, so it was fun to get out there with my friends and play some tennis.
Sue: What about you, Walker?
Walker: Probably basketball for me, yeah.
Sue: Basketball too?
Walker: Yeah.
Sam: Yeah.
Sue: So did you guys have like a hoop in the backyard and everything?
Sam: Oh, yeah, the whole deal.
Walker: The whole deal. A couple finance majors, writing country songs, and a couple of five – 10 white dudes playing basketball, how about that?
Sam: Beating the odds every day.
Sue: It’s perfect. I love it. So now you guys have several songs out now, which one is your favorite song?
Sam: That’s a good question. One of my favorites is called Monica we have out, it was on our last album and it’s just fun for me to play because it’s a true story. And it’s about a surfing trip I went on and the girl I met there and everything. So it’s always fun to tell that story. And I also had a bunch of buddies on that trip with me, so they all know the story and met her and it’s kind of a fun thing for me. And I just like the song.
Sue: Excuse me. So Monica is a real person?
Sam: Oh yeah. She’s real.
Sue: Okay. And she knows about the song?
Sam: I don’t know. I don’t really know where she is now.
Sue: Oh. We don’t know.
Sam: Find Monica.
Sue: Mystery Monica.
Sam: Yeah. We’ve been trying to find Monica for years.
Sue: Really?
Sam: We don’t know where she is.
Sue: I wonder if she’s been to your shows or something like that, and you don’t know it?
Sam: I don’t know. I mean, I met her in Costa Rica, so it’s pretty likely she’s somewhere in South America or somewhere in Central America doing something. Who knows?
Sue: Okay. That is pretty awesome. Okay. I love that story. So that you’ve written this song about this woman and you’re like, I’ll never see her again, I have no idea where she is. That’s pretty cool. I like that.
Sam: Yeah. She’s out there somewhere. Monica’s out there.
Sue: She’s out there somewhere. You might find her, who knows? So when you guys aren’t playing music, what are you doing? What do you guys like to do?
Walker: Well, we do a lot of construction work.. As songwriters and musicians doing the independent thing, meaning without like a record deal, we do a lot of odd jobs. I just remodeled a bathroom for a client, and I’m remodeling a laundry room for a client right now. And I work for my boss, and I flipped a house not too long ago. And Sam does a bunch of the same stuff. So it’s mostly just work,, we’re working and then trying to pay the bills, and then writing songs and playing music as much as we can, and then hanging out with friends. So that’s pretty much our life, which is a great one.
Sue: So you guys are handy guys?
Sam: Oh yeah, probably. Yeah.
Sue: Handy guys are in hot demand. I don’t know. Are either one of you single because the ladies want to know. I have a lot of lady audience members.
Walker: Oh I’m single. I’m single. And yes, I’m a handyman. So if there’s any girls out there that love that, then hey, that’s great.
Sue: He’s like a handy guy, he’s good looking. He can play the guitar, he writes songs.
Walker: He’s got it all.
Sue: He plays with his picture. He’s got it all. He like the full package.
Walker: And I’m really poor. It’s awesome.
Sue: Not for long.
Walker: That’s right.
Sue: So are you guys ready to play a song for us? Because I think everybody would really love that.
Sam: Yeah.
Walker: Yeah. Let’s do it. Let’s play you one. We’ll play you our song, “Make me wanna to be” this is a song that we released last year. It’s on our album that’s titled “Country Music” and it’s really just a good old fashioned love song. And we put it on TikTok and Instagram reels and stuff, and it ended up just like kind of exploding. And we were like, oh we got to put this thing out. So yeah, we’ll play it for you.
Sue: Great. I can’t wait to hear it.
Tuten Brothers: One, two, one, two, three.
Heart skipping for a sunshine smile You’re as pretty as Monterey Even if I gotta walk a mile, girl I’d walk your way The kind of girl I thought I’d never find It’s like the Lord made you just for me I’ve never been the romantic type But you make me wanna be Tangled up on an old dance floor Two names in a live oak tree Buying roses from the grocery store GIrl, you make me wanna be Taking you home to meet my mom and them Making time and making plans I’ve never been in love like that before But you make me wanna be I’ve always been a town-to-town-er Running ’round, that was fine with me I’ve never been a settle down-er But you make me wanna be
Taking you home to meet my mom and them Making time and making plans I’ve never been in love like that before But you make me wanna be.
Baby what you’re doing Is working on me, it’s working on me So keep doing what you’re doing ‘Cause I wanna be Girl, you make me wanna be.
Tangled up on an old dance floor Two names in a live oak tree Buying roses from the grocery store Girl, you make me Oh, you make me wanna be Taking you home to meet my mom and them Making time and making plans I’ve never been in love like that before But you make me wanna be.
Walker: There you go.
Sue: Okay. We were Just talking about playing weddings. I could see you, I could see that song being played at a wedding.
Walker: Yeah. We love playing that one at weddings. It’s always fun to play that for the new couple, for sure. It’s a good time.
Sue: I bet they really appreciate, that was a beautiful song. Thank you guys for sharing that. That’s awesome.
Walker: Appreciate it.
Sue: So what’s next for The Tuten Brothers? What’s happening?
Sam: Man, we’ve got some new music coming out, it’s the big thing. We’ve got a song coming out in the very near future. We have a little announcement tomorrow, so if people want to know about that, they can follow us on our socials, whatever. And we post on there all the time. But we’ve really got new music out. We’re about to go into the studio and record a bunch of new music and we’ve got a couple shows coming up. We’re going to Charleston, South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina in a couple weeks and yeah, that’s what we’re doing. Just doing the thing.
Sue: Perfect. I love it. So one last question before I let you go because I am here in the wine country. Do you drink wine and what kind do you like?
Walker: Yeah, we drink wine. I like red wine. I like Cabernet, usually. That’s probably my favorite wine. Yeah. I’m not a huge white wine guy for some reason, but I do like red wine. I have a very unrefined wine taste, so I like it all. I’m good with whatever.
Sue: You like it all? Oh, you’re like me.
Walker: Yeah.
Sue: I’m like, “Oh there’s wine? Great. I’m in. Yeah.”
Sam: Yeah. That’s [crosstalk].
Walker: Not too picky. Yeah.
Sue: Awesome. Well, hopefully we’ll get to meet in-person sometime and maybe share a glass of wine. That’d be great.
Sam: Sounds great, Sue. Appreciate it.
Walker: [inaudible]
Sue: Awesome. Thank you guys so much and we’ll see you hopefully, like I said, in-person soon.
Walker: Thanks. Great to meet you.
Sam: Thanks for having us.
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