The Mallett Brothers Band. Photo by Bethany Hayes Chute

The Mallett Brothers Band released their seventh alt-country/Americana album on April 4.

“Higher Up in the Hills” is quite possibly the best, strongest and most musically robust album they’ve ever made.

Bolstered by songs like “Nothin’s Working,” “Outer Limits,” “Seville,” “Dogs and Horses” and “Faster Than It Appears,” “Higher Up in the Hills” is sturdy, thoughtful and a pleasure to listen to throughout its 14 songs.

The band is brothers Will (guitar, harmonica, vocals) and Luke Mallett (guitar and vocals), Nick Leen (bass), Andrew Martelle (fiddle, synth, backup vocals) and Brian Higgins (drums, percussion, backup vocals).

The album also features guest pianist Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers Band) on the track “Dogs and Horses.”  The band met Leavell when he filmed an episode of his show “American Forests” in Orono during the summer of 2023. They were the musical guest.

The brothers said they recorded “Higher Up in the Hills” over the course of about six months last year. Most of the songs on it were written in 2020 and 2021.

Will described “Home Cookin'” and “The Outer Limits” as “definitely COVID songs.” He chuckled when speaking about “Home Cookin’.”

“I had never spent so much money on groceries in my life because I was trying to do all my grocery shopping in big chunks. So I get home with 300 bucks worth of groceries and I was like, wow, we have a lot of food here, I should write a song about it.”

The brothers typically write songs independent of one another.

“There’s a little bit of co-writing going on and there’s a whole lot of fleshing stuff out with the band before a song becomes a record version,” Luke Mallett said.

Will (Sebec) and Luke (Gorham) also spoke about how they’re doing after losing their famous father David Mallett four months ago.

The elder Mallett died in December after a lengthy battle with stomach cancer. His passing at the age of 73 was a blow to Maine’s music scene and well beyond.

David Mallett was a beloved folk singer-songwriter who left an indelible mark with “The Garden Song,” not to mention a 17-album discography.

The Mallett Brothers Band’s first show after David passed away was in Dover-Foxcroft at the Center Theatre on Jan. 18. David helped with the restoration and reopening of the historic venue several years ago. Dover-Foxcroft is next to David’s home in Sebec, making this a hometown show for the band.

“We did a whole first set of our dad’s stuff, which we’ve never done before. The goal was to have a lot of tears flowing in the audience and I think it worked,” said Will about the show.

“It was a heavy one,” Luke said. “The entire Mallett clan was there and there’s lots of us.”

Luke also spoke about what the loss of his father feels like.

“His art and his impact will be around for a really, really long time, so there’s a lot of comfort in that,” he said. “But on a personal level, it’s rough because he was a fantastic dad, he was a very involved dad and he was a very big presence everywhere he went. He took up a lot of room in the house is what my mom keeps saying, so there’s a giant hole he left behind for those of us who really knew him well.”

Cover of “Higher Up in the Hills” Image courtesy of Mallett Brothers Band

Will shared that his father always offered encouragement for the Mallett Brothers Band, including the new album. “It always threw me off actually because our dad was really critical of everything but he would be like ‘you guys, everything you do is amazing’.”

David got to hear many of the songs that are on his sons’ new album. “He heard us playing them live and he heard the rough mixes out of the studio. He would be walking around singing them and that was just super cool,” said Will.

The Mallett Brothers Band formed in 2009. They have always been a band that plays a ton of live shows, both regionally and nationally.

There are two local performances this weekend. Catch the band on Friday at Morgan Hill Event Center in Hermon and Saturday at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel.