Texas Johnny Brown

Texas Johnny Brown

Brown at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2008
Background information
Born (1928-02-22)February 22, 1928
Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States
Died July 1, 2013(2013-07-01) (aged 85)
Houston, Texas, United States
Genres Blues[1]
Occupation(s) Guitarist, songwriter, singer
Instruments Guitar
Years active Mid 1940s–2013
Labels Various including Atlantic and Choctaw Creek
Website www.txjohnnybrown.com

Texas Johnny Brown (February 22, 1928 - July 1, 2013) was an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. He is best known for his composition "Two Steps from the Blues" and, in a lengthy career, variously worked with Joe Hinton, Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lavelle White, Buddy Ace and Junior Parker.[2] Although he was born in Mississippi, Brown's long association with Houston, Texas, gave him his stage name.

Before his death, Allmusic noted that Brown "remains one of the more immovable veterans dotting the inexplicably low-key Houston blues landscape".[3] His jazzy guitar style of playing the blues, has been attested to the early influence on him of Charlie Christian.[4]

Biography

He was born John Riley Brown,[2] in Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States. As a child he played guitar alongside his father, who was blinded while working for the railroad,[5] on the streets of his hometown and further afield, before the family finally relocated to Houston in 1946.[4][6]

Brown's professional music career started in a band called the Aladdin Chickenshackers, who regularly backed Amos Milburn.[1] He recorded with Milburn, and also backed Ruth Brown on her earliest cuts for Atlantic. Through this work, in 1949, Brown was able to record some tracks of his own, where he was in turn backed by Milburn and the Aladdin Chickenshackers.[7] He also recorded an unreleased session in Houston for Lola Cullum's Artist Record Company (ARC) in 1950.[8][9] Brown's three-year stint of military service finished in 1953, and he re-commenced backing Lightnin' Hopkins.[10] In addition, Brown performed regularly with Junior Parker throughout the 1950s.[7]

Brown's recording career continued in the mid 1950s, when he was utilised mainly as a sideman for both of the affiliated Duke and Peacock record labels. Often his contributions went uncredited on releases by musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Joe Hinton.[1] In the late 1950s, Brown composed "Two Steps from the Blues", which became the title of an album released by Bobby "Blues" Bland in 1961.[11] Brown toured as Bland's lead guitarist in the 1950s and 1960s.[1]

Brown continued with his regular recording and stage duties until 1963, when he began a number of day jobs including driving trucks, working as a mechanic,[5] landscaping and operating a forklift.[6] Brown also recalled jam sessions in the mid 1960s at the Club Matinee in Houston, which regularly featured himself, Goree Carter, Joe Bell, Roy Gaines and Clarence Hollimon.[12] He retired in 1991, and formed the Quality Blues Band with whom he performed up to his death.[6] His 1949 tracks, "The Blues Rock", "There Goes The Blues", and "Bongo Boogie" were featured on the compilation album, Atlantic Blues:Guitar, which was first released by Atlantic Records in 1986.[7][13]

In 1996, Brown appeared at the Long Beach Blues Festival.[7] In 1998, Brown finally released an album under his own name, Nothin' but the Truth. The Allmusic journalist, Hobart Rowland noted of the tracks, "the insistent toe-tappers 'Your House, Your Home' and 'Stand the Pain' and the keyboard-drenched 'Blue and Lonesome' are easily among Brown's best".[3] Nothin' but the Truth, which included Brown's version of his song "Two Steps from the Blues", was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Award in 1999 as the 'Comeback Album of the Year'.[7][14]

In September 2001, Brown was named 'Blues Artist of the Year' at the Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton Blues Festival, which took place in Houston.[7] In January 2002, Brown's second album, Blues Defender was released, also on Choctaw Creek Records.[15] Brown was quoted following an interview in June 2010 with the Texan newspaper, Valley Morning Star, about his work that, "melancholy feelings make good blues music."[5]

In September 2011, Brown's roots were honored with an historical marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Ackerman.[4]

Brown died at his home in Houston, Texas, in July 2013 from lung cancer, aged 85.[2][14]

Discography

Albums

Year Title Label
1998 Nothin' but the Truth[3]Choctaw Creek Records
2002 Blues Defender[15]Choctaw Creek Records

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chadbourne, Eugene (2002-01-22). "Texas Johnny Brown - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  2. 1 2 3 Doc Rock. "July to December". The Dead Rock Stars Club. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  3. 1 2 3 Rowland, Hobart. "Nothin' but the Truth - Texas Johnny Brown : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mississippi honors Houston's Texas Johnny Brown - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  5. 1 2 3 "Popular blues musician dies at 85". Valley Morning Star. 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  6. 1 2 3 Dansby, Andrew. "'Texas' Johnny Brown gigged till the end". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Texas Johnny Brown". Choctaw Creek Records. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  8. ↑ The Blues Discography 1943-1970 (Fancourt, McGrath
  9. ↑ Mojo Hand: The Life Of Lightning Hopkins (O'Brian), Page 56.
  10. ↑ Govenar, Alan B. (2010). Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues (1st ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-55652-962-7.
  11. ↑ Farley, Charles (2011). Soul of the Man: Bobby "Blue" Bland (1st ed.). Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 90/1. ISBN 978-1-60473-919-0.
  12. ↑ Wood, Charles Roger (2003). Down in Houston - Bayou City Blues (1st ed.). Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 164. ISBN 0-292-79159-3.
  13. ↑ "Blind Willie McTell discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  14. 1 2 "RIP". Txjohnnybrown.com. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  15. 1 2 "Blues Defender - Texas Johnny Brown : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. 2002-01-22. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
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