Highly Vocal

Read about Branson entertainers the Knudsen brothers and listen to mp3s of their performances!

It sounds like a trumpet, but it is not a trumpet. It might sound like a beat box, flute or guitar, but it is not any of these things. Whatever the sound, it’s coming from one of the Knudsens who make up the group Six.

“Sitting through our show you forget that we are making all of those sounds,” says member Jak Knudsen. “You feel like you’re listening to a full band play.” True to the group’s name, the Knudsens really are brothers. (There are actually four other siblings, but as Jak jokes, the others have “normal” jobs.) The group performed in Las Vegas for some time before they held a showcase in Branson in August. Both the brothers and The Hughes Brothers Celebrity Theatre knew the show was a test run, and it eventually led to a five-year contract between the two.

Jak says family values also played a big role in their move. “We all have kids and kind of got to thinking,” Jak says. “Vegas is a fun place, but it’s not always kid-friendly. I had an experience driving with my son. We got on the wrong road, and we were not in a great area. I felt my heart broken that my son saw what he saw. That sealed the deal. We thought it was the right thing to do.” Jak has four boys, and between the six brothers there are 18 children.

So, they just up and moved to Branson. Past gigs have had Six performing all over the world. They opened for Trisha Yearwood, The Beach Boys, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Huey Lewis and the News.

“It’s been a great career,” Jak says. “After 9/11 we were stuck out of the country, and we couldn’t get home. That was such a traumatic event for everyone.” Six ended up performing regular shows in Vegas, so they weren’t flying all the time. “I loved a lot of things about Vegas, but you don’t have to explain anything to your kids in Branson,” Jak says. “This is the first time any of us have lived in the Midwest, and it’s such a different change of pace.”

If you’ve wondered what the deal is with the caravan of decaled Scion xB’s in the mornings in Branson, it is the Knudsen brothers, who drive to work in train-like fashion as a part of their marketing campaign. Marketing the show has been much less expensive in Branson, where they don’t have to compete and pay for the same advertising space as Celine Dion. Jak says the 417-land marketing bill ends up being about one-20th of what it cost in Vegas.

From a young age their father taught them how to listen to tone and pitch. Tediously, they learned straight-forward singing. They practiced regularly and began performing early. (Jak was 7.) It wasn’t until the early ’90s, when Owen went to San Francisco to study with one of the best voice percussionists in the country, that the brothers became much much more than an a cappella group whose members shared a last name. “He came back, and our jaws just dropped because he’s a total natural,” Jak says. “We all quit our day jobs, and we started singing full-time professionally.”

Six is still establishing itself in Branson. Usually drawing between 100 to 200 people a night, the group feels good about its numbers. They still have time to grow.