Gabriel (drums) and Caleb (guitar) in the early days.
Gabriel and Caleb started playing music in their parent’s garage. Gabriel bashed drums and Caleb rocked the electric guitar but it wasn’t until late in high school that Gabriel got serious about guitar. For his high school senior project, Gabe tasked himself with learning guitar which he used to begin writing original music.
From there, the brothers began to hone their act, playing original songs on the patio of the Bonefish restaurant. Due to a lack of an ASCAP license, the brothers couldn’t play cover material, forcing them to write a two-hour set of original music.
In 2012, the brothers stepped into the studio to produce Knutzen Brothers Acoustic Album along with Gabriel’s first solo album — It’s About Time. The former is solidification and celebration of those early Bonefish shows and the latter a thoughtful and cohesive exercise full of colorful chords and pensive lyrics.
Caleb (left) and Gabriel (right) circa 2012.
The Knutzen Brothers’ Acoustic Album is a collection of our favorite all-acoustic original songs, including “Long Road Back to You,” “Grandma’s Secret Recipes,” and “My Ocean,” the results of which became the soundtrack to multiple family memory videos on our YouTube Channel. The Acoustic Album is packed with acoustic gold that continues to entertain audiences to this day.
The album also features Gabriel playing ukulele on the song “Ukulele Love Song,” where he discovered his joy of playing the instrument and became inspired to incorporate it more in their live sets. Gabriel’s uke prowess is showcased on his album — It’s About Time — where he performs many songs from yesteryear to kick up some nostalgia for the older generations. Further, the songs serve to inspire and inform younger generations of the power of some of the classics.
As they honed their craft on nights and weekends, Caleb worked at a senior memory care community where he regularly performed for seniors to help residents with Alzheimer’s relive their musical favorites. It gave him great joy to share his love of music with the community via the form of musical therapy. The song “Grandma’s Secret Recipes” was written for his grandmother Marie, who suffered from dementia, and has since been used as a musical homage and reminder of the highlights of her life.
Caleb with grandma Marie.
Knutzen family at their trademark butcher shop.
Nowadays, you can find Caleb at the family butcher shop (Knutzen’s Meats) feeding carnivores in the Tri-Cities area and playing music with Gabriel on the weekends.
Together, the Knutzen Brothers have played for wineries, restaurants, private parties, weddings, birthdays, breweries, backyard barbecues, and everywhere else live music is served. Music is Gabriel’s full-time occupation. Recently, Gabriel has started an event called This is Vinyl Tap, where he brings and plays a variety of vinyl albums and invites people in the community to bring their favorite albums to the shows.
Check out our gigs page for a list of upcoming shows, and we hope to see you there!