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The Brothers Walker are coming to Poplar Bluff’s Historic Rodgers Theatre, Saturday, August 30, at 7 p.m. They are hoping for a great crowd, first, because they love their audiences, and second, because they will be doing a video shoot of the performance.

Who comes to a Brothers Walker concert? Well…everyone.

“That’s what we love about our audience,” explained Coty. “We will see everyone out there in the crowd from grandparents, to children.”

It’s really like an extended family, agrees Clinton.

That is important, because the Brothers Walker say family has everything to do with their music careers.

When you ask them about their musical “career”, they really have a hard time pin-pointing when their career began.

“We started at such an early age that we didn’t even know what ‘music career’ meant,” explained Clinton. Literally, the twins were involved with music before they could speak.

It has really only been the last few years that their love for music morphed into a “career”.

“We feel great about where we are right now,” said Clinton. “We are playing more, writing more, and have a phenomenal band to play with us. We see nothing but progress for the future.”

Coty and Clinton are the twin sons of Tommy and Carol Walker, and like many musical acts of the Heartland, they got their start singing for family, friends, and of course, their church.

Their love for music has found its way into a blend of country and Christian rock. They’ve developed their own music studio in their hometown of Bernie, which has given them much more power over their own destiny, and the destinies of dozens of musicians in this area with big dreams and homegrown talent.

They have put their own spin on country music because of the values they have been surrounded with their entire lives. They refuse to do the typical country music drinking songs, and they are trying to give the world a more realistic picture of what life is like in “the country”.

One of their favorite songs they have penned is ‘The Life”. They are trying to tell the world through the song that life is good in small town America. The video of the song not only features them, but also many of their friends and other local musicians. It was filmed along the banks of the St. Francis River and the streets of Bernie.

Instead of featuring partying and girls dancing around in “Daisy Dukes”, they’ve chosen to portray life in Southeast Missouri in a more realistic way.

They’ve developed a band that is crucial to their sound.

“We’ve developed a five-piece band,” says Coty. “Clinton plays guitar along with both of us singing. But the entire band has enhanced not just our music, but our show, because we work well together in terms of not just music, but also our personalities.”

Their bass player, Dustin Cluck, has been a life-long friend; they went to school together in Bernie. He helped them build their recording studio, and now heads their promotions team.

“Then we saw Bobby Lewis playing bluegrass in Poplar Bluff while we’re in the middle of recording our debut album. As soon as we played together, we knew we had to get him into our band,” added Clinton. “He just brings so much to the table, with a great vocal, and adds another layer of harmonies to ours. And he is one of the best fiddle players around!”

“The newest member of our band is Cody Mosbey of Dexter,” added Coty. “He came to us through session work at our studio. We discovered what a great guitarist and songwriter he is. He was working with one of our recording artists, Anna Catherine DeHart of Sikeston, and we just immediately became a fan of his work.”

So what is it like to have a music career with your twin?

“Honestly, our personalities work so well together,” offered Clinton. “We’ve literally spent our whole lives together. But we’ve decided to embrace that fact. We try not to bicker or argue or make fun of each other. And we’ve learned to use our relationship as part of the show. And we’ve all learned to just have fun with the whole experience.”

The music business works for them because they refuse to let go of their roots.

“We still worship every Sunday at our home church, so we continue to have strong roots of gospel music as well as country music,” said Coty. They attend the Word of Faith Christian Center in Bernie.

They hope to have an impact on country music in a positive way.

“Our family has had a huge impact on our career. They are amazing supporters and an inspiration to us. They are at the center of our lives and what we write about. We love our parents and their close relationship, we love being part of a close-knit rural community, and we’ve learned a lot from Dad’s work ethic and Mom’s love of the Lord. Those are the things that have shaped us and that have shaped our music,” explained Clinton.

The one thing that has changed is Clinton’s increased focus on music. He graduated from SEMO with an education degree and had been teaching English with the Holcomb School District. He admits it was somewhat of a tough decision to stop teaching in order to put more time into music. “I loved teaching, and I loved my students,” he explained. “And it was a little scary to give up that secure income.” But he views music as just another way of educating people. “Teaching and music are both about communicating with people,” he added.

He says the risk was worth following his and his brother’s dream. But he doesn’t rule out the idea that he might someday return to the classroom.

And Clinton says they are “super stoked” about playing at the Historic Rodgers Theatre in Poplar Bluff.

“It’s a venue that has stood the test of time, and we really love and admire that about it,” said Coty.

Of course many in the audience will know them by their performance on “The Voice”. They never discount the value of the impact of that show upon their career.

“The Voice increased our exposure, but even more importantly, we learned so much from Usher and the rest of the team about the music business. That has become invaluable to our own careers,” concluded Coty.

Now…..they just want to pack The Rodgers for that video shoot!

“The crowd is what gives us the energy on stage,” explained Clinton. “And then we give that energy back to the audience. When you have that kind of energy, it makes for a great concert, and definitely makes the video better. We hope to see a LOT of people out there!”