Walking out of Magnolia Hall, there’s a good chance you’ll stumble upon the new band The Magnolia Brothers.

Created by University of Tennessee students William Greer, Peyton Ingram and Sean Ross, the group is finding their sound through covering popular songs while also working on their own stuff on the side.

All three freshmen are multi-year musicians. Greer plays the rhythm guitar, Ingram the piano and Ross a variety of instruments, usually lead guitar. Greer is also currently the band’s lead singer, although both Ingram and Ross have dedicated songs to sing.

None of them expected to start The Magnolia Brothers, especially within the first few weeks of their undergraduate career. All three of them had various ideas on whether they would even join a band, ranging from not planning on it at all to it being the only thing they thought about.

“I’m a producer mainly, so I really did not think I was going to be in a band,” Ingram said. “[Then] I got roomed with basically the same person as me, and we were like ‘why not.’”

Greer, the ‘same person’ in question, got Ingram on board.

“I wanted to start something,” Greer said. “At least do solo stuff, but the band is cooler.”

Ross asked to jam with Greer after a floor meeting revealed they were both musicians. Unlike the others, Ross had set his mind on joining a band as soon as possible.

“I just want to perform,” Ross said.

Now, a few weeks in, they’re practicing and playing as much as possible, performing outside in the Magnolia courtyard.

“We’ll either practice in our room or out here in the commons,” Greer said, with Ingram adding that practice for them is anytime they’re playing together.

“Us playing outside our dorm hall, I consider to be practice even though we’re performing,” Ingram said.

So far, they’ve played a total of six times outside of the dorm hall and participated in the Open Mic Night on Aug 25. The amount of planning that goes into these events varies.

“Sometimes it’s spontaneous, sometimes it’s planned a day in advance,” Greer said.

They each love music for different reasons, but they all love the way helps them connect with other people — not only each other, but the crowds who come and listen to them play.

“It’s great to connect with the people who take time out of their day to listen to [our] music,” Ingram said. “But it’s also fun to have our music be coherent with each other. I like it when we sound good.”

They’re working on their musical sounds and interests — what style they have fun with and perform the best in — by practicing constantly and staying in a growth mindset. Playing together, they push one another to better their skills both as musicians and as people.

“It’s really social too, [be]cause when you play music with people, it’s like communicating on a whole other level,” Ross said.

They’re taking that newfound communication and using it to work on original material. While nothing is set in stone, they’re starting to experiment with different sounds and lyrics in hopes of putting something together to release on streaming platforms. At the moment, they are just putting covers up on their social media accounts.

“When we start making real music, which we have a couple of ideas, a couple of songs, I will produce everything. I’ll make our room like a mini studio for us to do sessions and stuff,” Ingram said.

In addition to setting up a studio and equipment, they’re also buying new materials to expand their ability to play at different venues and locations. Recently, they bought a power supply, essentially a large battery, so they can power Ingram’s piano anywhere.

“We needed something portable that has an outlet on it to plug [Peyton’s] piano onto [be]cause there’s not many easy access places to plug on the Ped Walk,” Greer said.

They have plans to busk on Pedestrian Walkway on the weekends and are looking to play as many gigs as possible.

“I don’t think we have anything 100% lined up,” Greer said. “We’re available for hire, we have a website and Instagram.”

When they perform, crowds gather to listen to the variety of styles they play while simultaneously making it their own. Each cover song is recognizable, yet it has a twang to it that comes from the three members who are so focused on the music they’re playing, they don’t realize.

“[Performing] makes you go off on a whole other world, like a whole other dimension,” Ross said.