Jake and Dave Maness. [Photo by Josh Basco and courtesy of the band.]

Bless up — The Maness Brothers are back.

With a sound sludgier than the Mississippi and an affect sweeter than a slice of gooey butter cake, our torch-bearing STL guys, The Maness Brothers, have at last served up the first single off their new album. They were generous enough to premiere the video for “Pain” here:

The duo is still young, but after a decade of racking up miles and spreading their gospel of heavy, Midwestern blues rock, The Maness Brothers entered 2020 with renewed vigor, new music, and a fresh style thanks in part to lo-fi rainmaker Josh Basco, who shot the “Pain” video above.

This year, David and Jake will tour middle America in support of their latest effort, which was produced and engineered by Carl Nappa (Carl-Who-Produced-Nelly-Nappa). Then they’ll take the roadshow to a number of festivals like Muddy Roots in Tennessee and the Fox Valley Roots fest in Wisconsin, not to mention a(nother) trek to Alaska, this time for the Trapper Creek Bluegrass Festival. The Maness Brothers will also make a triumphant return to Europe for Picking Bones in Belgium and Raut Oak fest in Germany.

And don’t worry, St. Louis-dwellers, we get our own special date with the Maness men on Friday, May 1, 2020, at Off Broadway, when the duo officially releases God Bless The Maness Brothers on Romanus Records.

Oh, and they’ll put on the ninth iteration of their signature event, the Whiskey War Festival, this summer. Can I get an ‘AMEN’?!

[Photo by Josh Basco]