Two Soups and the Salad Bar

The Two Soups project developed over 10 years of performances and releases, as well as the pursuit of higher musical education. Following many years of Robert Janz’s solo releases and early live performances, a collaboration between the two equally talented brothers seemed imminent. Beginning in 2020, Two Soups began to take shape, with virtual performances posted to YouTube, occasional live appearances, and the duo’s first full-length set in August of 2021. The excitement found in their increasingly improvisatory performance style fueled 2022’s ‘Two Soups Tour’, which saw the two solidify their craft at venues across mid-Michigan, while also hinting at developments to come.

Throughout the 2022 tour, the brothers began experimenting with an expanded lineup. Premiered at an unassuming backyard performance in June 2022, Two Soups and the Salad Bar takes the brothers’ musical voice and amplifies it, powered by a rotating lineup of musicians and close friends who make up the 8-piece horn section and rhythm players. The expanded Two Soups would reform for the second annual “Yard Concert” in 2023 and has been performing steadily since; highlights have included the yearly Walk the Beat festivals in Grand Haven, the Lowell Riverwalk Festival, and Ann Arbor’s Blind Pig in 2025.