HERRIMAN, Utah, April 8, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — Singer Chuck Briseno never had a master plan to lead him to the career he has now.
Yet each step built on the seemingly unrelated step before, and now Briseno finds himself a little past the middle of a tour with his band, and ready to visit Utah for the first time and play Herriman’s Redemption Bar & Grill.
Briseno and his bandmates bring their Red Dirt, Texas country sound to Redemption at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The 21+ venue is at 3517 W. Maradona Drive.
Briseno grew up in the home of his grandparents, who lived in a tiny cow town of George West, Texas. His granddad was a gifted storyteller who played the guitar.
Besides listening to stories and writing some poetry (“to impress the girls, and it didn’t work,”) there wasn’t much to do in George West, Briseno said in a phone interview. He did it sitting outside of his tour van and enjoying a drink, with his tired feet briefly liberated from his cowboy boots.
“We used to drive these dirt roads and drink beer, and we park out in the middle of nowhere, and, you know, just all the trucks would park around in a circle, and we just kind of get out and drink beer and dance and listen to music and tell stories, just kind of hang out. That was me from 14 to 18.”
So his love of storytelling and music was in place, but Briseno next joined the Army and served 14 months in combat in Afghanistan.
“We lost 43 guys in our unit,” Briseno said. “It was a pretty rough deployment, and so I got this song called ‘Folded Flag,’ and I tell that story and talk about Gold Star families. I think that we get to remind people that we live in the best country on earth, and that people are willing to sacrifice their life for us to have a beer and listen to music and be happy just for a moment, even if everything around you is falling apart, we can all come together and listen to music.”
Briseno’s deployment gave him deep and soulful stories to tell on topics of love, life and sacrifice. He and bandmates Todd Sly, bass; Joey Rowlett, guitar; and Kameron Overturf, fiddle, perform “Folded Flag” in just about every show.
Besides their original songs, the band covers classic country artists including Waylon Jennings and George Jones.
Briseno followed up his combat years with four years at West Point, after studying for the ACT and SAT in Afghanistan.
After graduation and time at bases in Colorado and Missouri, Briseno began singing with a friend at open mic nights, but ended up taking a corporate job involving engineering projects for Army projects.
By 2018, however, Briseno was ready to admit he was a singing storyteller and not someone who wanted to spend his life sitting at a desk. He contacted musician friends he had made at various stops in his journey, and put a band together.
He was getting gigs and was finally on his chosen path.
“And I was like, well, I’m gonna play music full time. So that was a November 2019. Then COVID happened.”
But with his feet finally on his true path, Bresino and bandmates did not give up. They made it through, and recorded music, played festivals and booked gigs.
“And we’ve been doing full time touring since then,” Briseno said.
Including Tuesday night at Redemption.
“We hope people will just be entertained, and bring a friend or make it a mid-week date night.”
And feel free to dance or just rest your feet. Whatever feels right.
And for those who are not yet familiar with Briseno’s deep, rich vocals and gift for storytelling, here are a few more songs, below, to sample for Tuesday night motivation.
And remember Redemption’s great south valley views and full menu of appetizers, entrees and desserts as well.
Redemption Bar & Grill is a proud sponsor of Gephardt Daily and supporter of independent local journalism in Utah.
