Photographer Tim Greenway is pictured aboard Nick Leen’s boat during their photo shoot. Tim is a commercial, editorial, and fine art photographer with a career spanning 30 years, including being the primary photographer for Mainebiz. To view more of Tim’s work, visit timgreenway.com.
Editor’s note: This is the photo essay from Photographer Tim Greenway, who spent time with the Maine-based Mallett Brothers Band. Read more about his experience here.
The Mallett Brothers Band play their biggest show of the year at Portland’s State Theatre on Dec. 6, 2025, opening with a rocking version of Schooner Fare’s “Portland Town.” Schooner Fare’s members were close to Luke and Will Mallett’s father, singer-songwriter David Mallett, and their music was part of the brothers’ upbringing. Will also sees a connection between the bands’ strong Maine identities. “We try to build our brand around Maine, and a lot of our identity comes from Maine. They were doing the same thing.” The song reflects the band’s familiar cycle of setting out on the road and returning to the city they still call home, Will said. “I think we just feel that so deeply for all the time that we’ve spent gone,” he said. “For all the guys in the band, I think it’s just a perfect song for us.” For Luke playing at the State Theatre carries special meaning when he was young. “It was a big deal coming from Northern Maine to go to the city and see something at that venue,” he said. “At one point, it just wasn’t even something on my radar that we would be able to do that,” he said. “It’s amazing.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYNick Leen, 43, of Freeport, an original member of the band, plays an upright bass built in 1945 as well as an electric bass during the band’s shows. Music remains his highest priority, particularly the opportunity to keep performing, creating new work and developing his craft. “I’m always trying to improve every week, every time I pick up my instrument.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYBrian Higgins, 59, of Gorham, always wanted to perform live and build a life with a band. “I wanted to see California for the first time with a band. I wanted to travel the country for the first time, not for vacation, with a band. It’s always been about that for me.” Fulfilling that dream has also required navigating the financial uncertainty and constant travel that come with being a working musician. Now, at 59, performing takes a greater physical toll, but his commitment has not changed. “I always come back to: A, it’s the thing I love the most. B, what the freak else am I going to do?” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYIt’s my first night photographing the band and the first night of their acoustic spring tour at the Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center in Maynard, Mass. Excited and nervous, I walk into the venue as the band is doing soundcheck. Will briefly introduces me, but I don’t think the guys really know why I am there. The band’s drummer, Brian Higgins, invites me onto the stage to take photographs. As I walk up the wooden steps at the side of the stage, he fist-bumps me, and I immediately feel a little more at ease and welcome. After soundcheck, Will, Luke, Andrew Martelle, the band’s fiddle player and keyboardist, and I eat at a Korean restaurant. Luke said food is part of what he enjoys most about life on the road. For him, touring is not only about playing music but also about experiencing new cities, people and finding the places locals love. “I wanted to be a touring musician, not just a musician,” he said. Unlike Luke, I am not an adventurous eater. I am selective, some friends and family would call me picky. We all order bibimbap, which I am trying for the first time, and I enjoy it. During dinner, I explain my vision for the photo story and the moments I hope to photograph. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYAfter the show, on a cold night in early March, the guys carry their equipment out of the center and load it into the van. Luke said the acoustic tour gave the band a chance to return to the sound that first defined the band. “It gives a little more focus on the lyrics and the content of the song as opposed to the production and just the rock and roll of it,” he said. Andrew describes the band’s sound as difficult to define by standard genres. “Sometimes we play straight-ahead rock and roll. Sometimes we play folk music. Sometimes we’re a jam band. Sometimes we’re a mix of all of them.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYA week later, at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, the dynamic between the band and me feels more relaxed. I am more comfortable around them, and they seem more at ease with me and my camera. Brian sets up his drums before the band’s show at the center. Loading and unloading equipment can be tedious. But after doing it for so long, the routine has become almost automatic. “It’s almost like second nature. It can be kind of a zen moment, too, because you’re just focused on moving your gear and setting it up. And it’s also a good time for the band to be joking, he said” “even though I’m the one being picked on.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYOn the second night of their acoustic tour, the band gathers in the green room at the Stone Mountain Arts Center to work through a song they usually play with electric guitars, figuring out how to preserve its essence acoustically. It’s the only time I see frustration surface among the members, and it quickly dissipates. The moment reflects one reason Brian believes the band has endured. Serious conflicts are rare, and disagreements seldom linger. “It’s just rare for us to butt heads about much,” he said. When they do, the members tend to move on and eventually joke about it. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYAfter soundcheck, the band rehearses in the green room, working through an acoustic version of a song. Formed in 2009, the band has released eight studio albums, including its latest, Higher Up in the Hills, in spring 2025. The album was dedicated to Luke and Will’s father, David Mallett, who died in December 2024. Through difficult periods and uncertainty, the fans have remained a steady source of support. “A couple of times we thought that we were pretty close to maybe the ship was going to go down,” he said. “But we found a way to right the ship.” Will credits the fans with giving the band a reason to continue. “The fans would be so pissed if we didn’t last, we’d be in trouble.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYBrothers Luke, 43, of Gorham, left, and Will, 41, of Sebec, both sing and play acoustic and electric guitar for the band. For Will, the Mallett name connects the group to his father and uncle, who once had a Mallett Brothers band of their own. “It kind of feels like we’re continuing our dad’s legacy a little bit, while also trying to create our own identities,” he said. That balance begins with the brothers’ relationship. Being in a band together has always felt natural, Luke said, and their shared goals have helped them work well together. Will described their personalities as complementary, with each bringing a different energy to the relationship. “A little yin and yang in general,” he said. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYLuke Mallett of the Mallett Brothers Band makes his way to the stage at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYA week later, the band loads in for a show at Maine Beer Company in Freeport. The scene is far removed from the moment that helped set the band’s formation in motion. After graduating from college in 2008, Will planned to work before pursuing graduate school. That October, as the weather turned colder, he spent a week beneath a camp on Sebec Lake, digging a trench by hand. “I was just laying in the dirt and thinking that maybe I should have a different adventure,” he said, laughing. Soon afterward, he began visiting his brother and Nick, who were living together in Portland. During those early visits, he slept on their couch and played guitar with them to “see if we come up with any good ideas.” Before long, Will moved to Portland, found another carpentry job and helped put the band together. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYBefore the show in Freeport, Brian greets Will’s sister, Molly, and Will’s niece Maren, 1, and nephew Max, 5. The band members have become more than friends. “We’re family at this point,” Luke said. “You’ve got to be family, and you’ve got to treat each other as such.” Will adds, “It’s just been such a wonderful way to move through the world with this group of guys, working towards a common goal,” he said. He remains grateful they took the chance. “To actually figure out a way to make it work, it’s just been really wild and amazing,” he said. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYWill Mallett of the Mallett Brothers Band warms up in the green room before a show at Maine Beer Company last March during the band’s spring acoustic tour. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYAt the band’s sold-out show in Freeport, I began to understand how important the fans would become to the story, not only because of their connection to the band, but also because of the community they had built around it. Luke said it’s still crazy to him that fans have seen the band 200 times and not get bored. One of those fans is Fran Stanhope, who has seen the band 238 times and was among 15 fans who traveled to Sweden for the band’s spring tour. She described Mallettville as “a state of being amongst TMBB’s super fans,” adding, “It’s the place we want to be, to ‘sing, dance and love,’ and we want to share that with others.” I felt welcomed in Mallettville. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYLuke and the band perform at Husson University in Bangor. After photographing the band in Freeport the night before, there is even more familiarity between us. I feel more at ease moving closer with my camera. This will be the last time I photograph the entire band for a while. Their upcoming shows will take them farther from southern Maine, including a 10-day tour of Sweden in April. At the end of the night, I thank the band for welcoming me and allowing me to photograph them. I tell them that, had they not been so open with me, I probably would have moved on to another story. They respond with appreciation, making the moment a fitting close to this chapter of photographing them. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYAndrew Martelle, 46, of Yarmouth, plays a fiddle built in Portland in 1917 and later acquired by his great-grandfather. It has been Martelle’s primary instrument since seventh grade, aside from a decade-long break when he was younger. He describes having a strange spiritual connection with it. That connection to music also extends offstage. He teaches elementary music and is the only band member with another full-time job. He finds teaching and performing enjoyable rather than draining, though balancing both requires careful planning and a commitment to being fully present and “working my ass off when I got something in front of me.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYWill talks with his wife, Sarah, and fellow musician Toby McAllister while preparing to perform at Live at Madrid’s in Portland in late March. He joined McAllister and Spose for the new venue’s first songwriter night. Luke performed in the series a month later, and the band will return in July for two headlining concerts. Owner Josh Schlesinger knew Will before the band formed and soon developed a close relationship with the group and their music. That connection became more personal when the band played at his wedding in 2011. “The Mallett Brothers were probably the most obvious band that we were ever going to have here,” Josh said. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYIn June, I travel to Sebec to visit Will and his family, his wife, Sarah, and their children, 2-year-old Isla and 1-year-old Levon. I photograph them on the porch of their 60-acre farm, across the road from where Will grew up. Like his father, he is rarely far from a guitar and often plays for his family. These days, his children’s requests include plenty of Taylor Swift and “The Wheels on the Bus.” A few weeks later, while I am interviewing Will for the story, he tells me Isla has painted a picture for me and plans to send it in the mail. I look forward to displaying it on my refrigerator. Due to the band’s scheduling, Will is able to spend much of the week with his children while Sarah teaches kindergarten. That time with them has deepened his appreciation for the course his career has taken and for what the band’s success has made possible. “Allowing me to do that is a huge gift that music has given me and that has been given to me by the band and the fans of the band. It’s a blessing.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYLuke lives on a farm in Gorham owned by his wife’s family and shaped by her lifelong work with horses. Fifteen horses live on the property, most of them boarded there. In July, I meet Luke at the band’s rehearsal space and “headquarters” in Portland, where he has a small recording setup for making demos and capturing ideas before they slip away. He often begins a song with a single phrase and builds outward from there. “Even as a little kid, I was all about words,” he said. He filled notebooks with poetry and short stories and attended creative writing programs in high school. “He’s kind of a man of few words, but he’ll kind of go deep quickly lyrically, which is always cool,” Will said of his brother’s writing. For Luke, songwriting is part of a larger commitment to building his life around music. He said he is content living modestly, regardless of the size of the crowd, as long as he can keep creating and performing. “I feel most at home onstage and on the road,” he said. “That’s why I do it.” He added, “The only way to make it work is to go all in and to hell with the money.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYTwo days before the Fourth of July, Nick and I set out in his 16-foot Starcraft boat. After photographing him on Casco Bay, we escape the heat with a quick swim in the ocean. Nick owns three boats in southern Maine and two more at his family’s camp. For him, boating offers a sense of freedom and endless opportunities to fish, swim and explore. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYAndrew tries to spend at least 45 minutes each day playing piano at the Yarmouth home he shares with his wife and three teenage sons. Raised in Portland, he takes enormous pride in being part of a Maine band. He sees performing songs about Maine and its people as “one of the most special things that we can give to Maine, because we’re all Mainers.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYNick said the fans help keep the band moving forward by spreading the word and bringing more people to their shows. “They’re the ones that keep us going,” he said. “It’s great, every bit of it. It’s the whole point of it.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYBrian shares a close bond with Aaron, his 15-year-old purebred cocker spaniel and former show dog. Brian spent more than three years in Florida away from the group. While there, he began caring for four former show dogs, all cocker spaniels, and Aaron quickly became attached to him. When Brian returned to Maine and rejoined the band, the dogs’ owner allowed him to bring Aaron with him. Rejoining the band brought Brian back to a life in music that had never been about money. He was “kind of a nerdy kid” without many friends, and music gave him an outlet that suited his introverted nature. “Once you do it and once you get that feeling, you want more,” he explained. “It’s like you catch the bug of creativity.” — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYThe band performs during its second headlining night at Live at Madrid’s in Portland. Shows like this are central to the band’s livelihood. The way people listen to music digitally has made recordings less profitable, so the group relies on frequent live performances. The band now averages just over 100 performances a year, a pace that keeps its members busy without repeating the more demanding touring schedule of its earlier years. “At one point, we were playing like almost 250 shows a year,” Luke said. “That’s a good way to burn yourself out, lose all your money,” he explained. The steady stream of shows has also helped the band build a close community around its music. “We’re like their hometown in a lot of ways. We’re like the place that they come to for their community,” Andrew explained. Live at Madrid’s owner Josh Schlesinger said that connection reflects how deeply the band represents Maine, not only through their music but also through the way its members carry themselves. “I think that’s why they’re so popular in Maine, they hold up a mirror to the audience,” he said. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYThe July shows at Live at Madrid’s in Portland mark my first time photographing the full band together since spring, though I have photographed several members away from the stage in recent weeks. Before Friday night’s performance, Will and I meet Brian and about two dozen devoted fans at The Thirsty Pig. Among them is Jodi Benvie of Windham, who has seen the band about 70 times. As Brian shows her photos of his dog, I notice the words “I Choose My Joy,” a band lyric tattooed on her left inside arm. After Jodi’s wife was diagnosed with cancer, the couple chose to embrace joy throughout her illness. She died two years ago. “We might not be happy, but we’ve got joy,” Jodi said. Unable to find the right font, she asked Luke to write the words in Sharpie. The bold lettering now reminds Jodi, and others who see it, to choose joy. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAYThe band closes its two-night run at Live at Madrid’s with the same revved-up version of “Portland Town” that opened the State Theatre show in December. After their shows, the band spends time with fans before packing up. Because many fans return again and again, the band’s time with them is more than a quick photo. There are conversations and updates about their lives and families, a connection that helps explain why they root so fiercely for the band. When I ask Luke about the band’s growing popularity, he says it does not need to happen all at once. “I love the idea that we can find two new people at this show,” he adds, “and we’re going to become his favorite band tomorrow.” Well, Luke, I was one of them. — PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
