The RoneyBoys: Brothers in the Groove
- Muzikscribe
- May 5
- 4 min read
Some artists have a sound. The RoneyBoys have a pulse. You don’t just hear them—you feel the space they grew up in: a home alive with jazz, gospel, R&B, and instinctive harmonies, where music wasn’t just heard, it was lived.
They carry that legacy without ever being trapped by it. Every note nods to the greats, every harmony speaks of brothers who’ve learned to move as one, yet they’re shaping something unmistakably their own. It’s urban, soulful, lived-in—and quietly unstoppable.
This exclusive dives into the roots, the brotherhood, the studio magic, and the road ahead for a group whose sound feels like it’s always been there, even as it keeps pushing forward.
Growing up as brothers, when did it go from just singing in the house to, “Nah, this is what we’re really about to do?”
Music was always a part of our identity, but it was never really apparent to us until Uncle Jam and Uncle T told us we should consider doing this as a career.
Y’all got that old-soul sound—what was playing in the house that shaped your ears before the industry ever touched you?
There was a mix of classical jazz, R&B, and gospel playing in the house from the time we were born. Our dad was a big fan of Stan Getz and Kirk Whalum. Our mom had us listening to Kirk Franklin and Mariah Carey, to name a few. We still have those old CDs somewhere.
Being mentored by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis—what’s one lesson they gave you that changed how you hear music forever?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one lesson, but one thing we learned from them that completely changed the way we make creative decisions is the amount of care they placed on making sure the human emotion stayed in their recordings.
They like to leave in breaths here and there and will use vocal comps that weren’t necessarily the “best” takes, leaving imperfections in the mix. It makes the recording feel grounded. But you didn’t hear that from us.
Each of you has a role—lyrics, chords, runs—but when it all clicks, what does that moment feel like in the studio?
Sometimes you’re in the studio with all the guys and it can feel like trying to solve an impossible puzzle. But there are moments where everything just comes together and there’s no thought required.
The phrase “smooth sailing” comes to mind. Time doesn’t exist, and before you know it, 10 hours have gone by, it’s 4 a.m., and you’ve got a song you want to show to a girl.
Your covers hit different—how do you take something classic and make it feel like it belongs to you without losing the soul?
So, we actually covered these songs with the idea that they do not belong to us. We approached every single classic with a lot of respect for its original sound.
No added runs, none of our own ad-libs, no changes to the musical production. That was the goal, and we think that’s what a lot of the fans appreciate from us. We didn’t want to make our own version of the song—we wanted to honor and pay tribute to the legacies that came before us.
Moving from Kansas to California, what did that shift do for your sound and your hunger?
It’s hard to say whether it shifted our sound or not. We were certainly introduced to new styles of music when we came to the West Coast, and we can’t deny that it had some influence on our sound.
We moved when we were very young, and during that time we had a lot of alternative rock and ’80s metal in our rotation. When we moved to California, we started hearing more Jack Johnson and beach-vibe music. But no one would probably guess that from listening to us.
Records like “Running Out” feel smooth but still current—how do you keep that nostalgic feel without sounding stuck in the past?
We listen to a lot of pop radio.
What’s a song from the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s that y’all wish you wrote yourselves?
Isaac: I wish I could’ve just sat in the studio session for “Look After Love” by Heatwave, let alone written it.
Ian: One song that comes to mind is “Push Me Away” by The Jacksons.
Israel: I wish I wrote “Summer Madness” by Kool & The Gang.
Working with Baby Bash and B. Howard, how do you blend your sound with artists from different lanes without losing your identity?
Collaboration is a beautiful thing. Everyone brings what they know to the table. It’s important to build a creative space where everyone feels comfortable bringing their knowledge and experience.
It’s a lot of fun recording in the studio with Uncle Bash. He pretty much lets us do whatever we want—except smoke weed with him. And he always likes the first take more than the second.
Working with B. Howard is very fun and spontaneous—you never know what’s going to happen. He’s one of the most talented songwriters. When we work together, we’re able to get a song done in about an hour, and then it’s on to the next one.
When you’re harmonizing, is it technical, or is it something that just comes from being family?
It’s both. We were blessed to be raised in a musical family, so naturally we picked up on harmonization very early on. But it also takes a lot of practice and teamwork to bring it all together.
We learned a lot about harmonizing when we were invited to the recording sessions for Boyz II Men at FlyteTyme Studios during the production of their Twenty album. Nate, Wanya, and Shawn spent a lot of their downtime between recordings teaching us some of their harmonizing secrets.
What’s one studio moment where everything clicked and you knew, “Yeah, this is our sound”?
We’re always chasing that moment. Our sound changes as we grow as artists and have more life experiences.
The seven years we spent with Uncle Jam and Uncle T really laid the foundation for what the RoneyBoys sound should be, and we’re always building off of that.
When people hear The RoneyBoys for the first time, what do you want them to feel—nostalgia, love, or something new entirely?
If we make a sad song, we want you to feel sad. If we make a happy song, we want you to feel happy. If we can make you feel something instead of nothing at all, then we’ve succeeded.
Comments