Courtesy

THE BAND: Chacho and Brance

THE MEMBERS: Lorenzo “Chacho” Saldaña (vocals, harmonica, percussion); Brance Arnold (lead guitar, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel, backup vocals)

THE SOUND: Blues/roots music. Or, as Chacho puts it, “Something between Hank (Williams) senior, Grateful Dead, John Prine, the Band, Doug Sahm, with a little splash of blues, maybe some borderland feeling to that, some bluegrass.”

THE WEB SITE: myspace.com/chachobrancerightasrain

THE ALBUM: The Right as Rain Sessions EP (2007)

THE BACKGROUND: Brance, who grew up in San Antonio, and Chacho, who is originally from Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras, met as students at St. Mary's University in 1995. “He was wearing a (blues guitarist) Robert Johnson T-shirt, so I just kind of went up to him, and we hit it off,” Chacho said. They've been writing together ever since. Their first project was a blues rock band called Fancy Sick; Brance went on to join other bands and moved to Virginia. After returning to San Antonio, he and Chacho began to collaborate on songs again two years ago. “We got together, and the songs just started pouring out,” Chacho said. “We're very prolific. We write songs sometimes on a daily basis.” Chacho is the main lyricist, while Brance writes most of the music, although sometimes they reverse roles. “We've always been in tune with each other,” Brance said. “We're like brothers from two different mothers.”

WHERE TO SEE THEM: The duo will play with a full band at Luna at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30.

THE 210 TAKE: Listen to Chacho and Brance for their foot-tapping blues rhythms, the stories their songs tell and the sincerity they pride themselves on. “I want the listeners to say, these songs are as honest as they come, really,” Chacho said.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor