At Home With Oteil and Jess Burbridge

By Stratton Lawrence

What do scuba diving, dragons, and the Marshall Tucker Band have in common? Spend a day with the Burbridge family at their home in Boca Raton and you’ll likely encounter all three.

As bassist for the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Oteil Burbridge graduated from the school of Col. Bruce Hampton to a quarter-century-long gig with the Allman Brothers Band. Today, he holds down the low end for Dead & Company and a new band celebrating the music of the Marshall Tucker Band called the Toy Factory Project.

Jess first met Oteil in her hometown, Winston-Salem, when a friend’s band opened for Oteil and the Peacemakers. She earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design, launching a career that would take her to Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo to document the Gorilla Doctors and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s work to protect endangered gorillas.

“The first year we were married, Jess promptly moved to Africa,” laughs Oteil. He didn’t love that his wife was dodging armed poachers without cell service for several weeks, but the distance worked for the couple, each chasing their passions in careers that kept them on the move. Jess also got very sick after a night catching bats and testing them for Ebola, a project funded by USAID. It turned out to be food poisoning, but it gave her second thoughts about the risks of having a baby there.

When the time came to raise a family, each made sacrifices to begin a new life. Oteil left his gig with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Jess took on a stateside Communications Director role with the Gorilla Doctors while earning her Master’s in Communications from Johns Hopkins.

After the birth of their son, Nigel (10), the Burbridges began the process of adopting their daughter, Kavi (7), from an orphanage in India. They settled into life as a family of four when the pandemic struck; looking to fill time at home, Jess ordered a block of clay, reigniting her passion for ceramics. It quickly became a full-time obsession.

The couple took up scuba diving after moving to Florida in 2016, and the close views of coral reefs inspired Jess to mimic their intricate natural shapes in her ceramics work. That led to a series of fine art corals. Then came the idea to sculpt dragons, an interest spawned while reading Game of Thrones in Rwanda.

“When we first met, I knew Jess was into pottery, but I thought of her as a photographer,” says Oteil. “Ceramics is obviously a passion. When the dragons happened, I was just as amazed as anyone else to see this block of clay that looked like a cinderblock transform.”

“Each little piece is sculpted by hand,” says Jess. Although she has a ‘little dentist tray’ of tools at the ready, “it’s mostly just my fingers.”

Jess sees her work today—she’s a Resident Artist at Arts Warehouse in Delray Beach—as a natural evolution. “You never know where your art is going to go, and that’s a beautiful thing about life,” she says.

Music and eating well are two constants in the couple’s life. Jess grew up listening to Southern rock, so her husband’s career aligns with her roots. When the Toy Factory Project debuted in Telluride this summer, she immediately regretted not flying out for the show.

“I listened to the show on nugs.net twice, back-to-back,” says Jess. “It’s a good lesson. Life is short. Call the babysitter and book the ticket.”

The couple bring that same intentionality to feeding their family. One go-to meal, refined from Jess’s Carolina upbringing, is a sheet-pan Lowcountry “boil.” “The kids love it, we love it, and it’s good as leftovers,” says Oteil.

The Burbridges also seek out Indian cuisine to connect Kavi with her heritage. “We try to keep her plugged into her cultural roots,” says Oteil. “She loves her mac-and-cheese and ketchup, but both kids are definitely open to trying different things.”

That means Thai food one night, Moroccan another, and Indian the next (which often means lots of naan, dahl, and rice for the kids).

On the road, Burbridge travels with a small blender, staying fresh for shows with a juice he makes from organic carrots, ginger, spinach and green apples. “It’s easy to eat healthy with Dead & Co,” says Oteil. “I’m lucky that I got to a point in my career where the food that’s provided in catering is usually great.”

At home and on the road, Oteil’s morning routine includes a workout and a healthy breakfast. He’s careful to limit social obligations before shows—“just talking with friends can burn my voice for singing,” he admits—so that he arrives on stage ready to give his all.

“It comes down to energy management,” says Oteil. Refueling that energy begins with time with his family and space for him and Jess to each explore their passions, whether that’s under the sea, sculpting intricate dragons, or a simple family meal.