Live Music: The Brew

“The sounds on Latin Brew are as clean, flowing, and downright gorgeous as anything digitally etched into recent memory.”
– Austin Chronicle

Michael Rodriguez, leader and featured guitarist of The Brew is one of the most extraordinary talents on both acoustic and electric guitar today, both in carrying powerful, familiar melodies and in improvisation.

He began playing at the age of 12 in Brownsville, Texas, inspired by jazz, blues, and rock and roll artists like George Benson, Al DiMeola, Earl Klugh, and of course, Carlos Santana. Although he never had any formal training on the guitar, he used his own perfect pitch to teach himself a multitude of tunes on the acoustic and electric guitars, ranging from rock and roll classics to Latin-jazz favorites. In the 1970s, he and brothers Mark and Joe and their late brother Rudy formed The Brew and eventually relocated to Austin in the early 1980s. The style of music that the band played changed as a reflection of his evolving musical interests, as The Brew presented a vast repertoire of songs and musical styles to nightclub audiences and private parties. Michael Rodriguez and The Brew have since become an Austin original and a perennial favorite of audiences young and old.

As the lead musician of The Brew, Michael propels the energy level of his audiences through the roof. He renders listeners and even his fellow band members awestruck with rock and roll riffs on his electric guitar during songs like Santana’s “Europa” or on an acoustic flamenco-style solo during “Barcelona Nights” by Ottmar Liebert.