Junior Brown
Encyclopedia
Jamieson "Junior" Brown (born June 12, 1953) is an American country
guitarist and singer. He has released nine studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard
country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar
, a hybrid of electric guitar
and lap steel guitar
.
. He first learned to play piano
from his father "before I could talk". His music career began in the 1960s, and he worked through that decade and the next singing and playing pedal steel and guitar for groups such as The Last Mile Ramblers, Dusty Drapes and the Dusters and Asleep at the Wheel
while developing his astonishing guitar skills. By the mid-1980s he was teaching guitar at the Hank Thompson
School of Country Music at Rogers State University
, in Claremore, Oklahoma
.
In 1985, Junior invented a double-neck guitar, with some assistance from Michael Stevens. Junior called the instrument his "guit-steel". When performing, Junior plays the guitar by standing behind it, while it rests on a small podium/music stand
. The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional 6-string guitar, while the lower neck is a full-size lap steel guitar for slide playing. Brown has two guit-steels for recording and live work. The original instrument, dubbed "Old Yeller", has as its standard 6-string guitar portion the neck and pickups from Brown's previous stage guitar, a Fender Bullet. The second guit-steel, named "Big Red", has a neck laser-copied from the Bullet neck, but in addition to electric guitar pickups, both the standard and lap-steel necks use an identical Sho-Bud lap-steel pickup. There is a pocket in the upper bout of the guitar to hold the slide bar when it is not in use.
Brown quickly became a local success in Austin, Texas
, as the house band at the Continental Club. His debut album was 1990's 12 Shades of Brown, released by the British Demon Records; it was re-released in 1993 on Curb Records
in the U.S., followed by Guit with It. In 1995, Brown released Semi Crazy, and followed it with 1997's
Long Walk Back.
In 1996, Brown was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
performing a cover of their 1962 hit "409". The song features Brown playing guitar and singing lead with the Beach Boys singing harmonies and backing vocals. Brown also won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year award in 1996 for his video, "My Wife Thinks You're Dead," which featured 6-foot-7-inch Gwendolyn Gillingham.
Brown's music has been showcased on various TV shows and movie soundtracks, including Me, Myself and Irene
, SpongeBob SquarePants
and the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard
remake, in which he also played the narrator.
Although Brown plays traditional country and Hawaiian steel styles, few of his performances will finish without some blues
playing and surf-rock instrumentals.
Beginning in August 2006 Brown joined Bob Dylan
's third tour of American minor league baseball stadiums.
In April 2008, Brown shot three pilot episodes of a country music program modeled after programs from the early 60s, in which Brown will play with a house band
as well as guests as host of the show.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
guitarist and singer. He has released nine studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar
Double neck guitar
A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not by any means a modern invention...
, a hybrid of electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and lap steel guitar
Lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
.
Life and career
Brown was born in Kirksville, IndianaKirksville, Indiana
Kirksville is an unincorporated community in Indian Creek Township, Monroe County, Indiana....
. He first learned to play piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
from his father "before I could talk". His music career began in the 1960s, and he worked through that decade and the next singing and playing pedal steel and guitar for groups such as The Last Mile Ramblers, Dusty Drapes and the Dusters and Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
while developing his astonishing guitar skills. By the mid-1980s he was teaching guitar at the Hank Thompson
Hank Thompson (music)
Henry William Thompson , known professionally as Hank Thompson, was an American country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades...
School of Country Music at Rogers State University
Rogers State University
Rogers State University is a public, co-educational university located in Claremore, Oklahoma with branch campuses in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Pryor Creek, Oklahoma. Since it began offering bachelor's degrees in 2000, it has outpaced the growth of all other public universities in Oklahoma...
, in Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore is a city and the county seat of Rogers County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,581 at the 2010 census, a 17.1 percent increase from 15,873 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area and home to Rogers State University...
.
In 1985, Junior invented a double-neck guitar, with some assistance from Michael Stevens. Junior called the instrument his "guit-steel". When performing, Junior plays the guitar by standing behind it, while it rests on a small podium/music stand
Music stand
A music stand is a device that holds sheet music in a position that allows the musician to read it while performing.There are various types of music stands. The most common modern type is made of metal and can be folded for ease of transportation...
. The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional 6-string guitar, while the lower neck is a full-size lap steel guitar for slide playing. Brown has two guit-steels for recording and live work. The original instrument, dubbed "Old Yeller", has as its standard 6-string guitar portion the neck and pickups from Brown's previous stage guitar, a Fender Bullet. The second guit-steel, named "Big Red", has a neck laser-copied from the Bullet neck, but in addition to electric guitar pickups, both the standard and lap-steel necks use an identical Sho-Bud lap-steel pickup. There is a pocket in the upper bout of the guitar to hold the slide bar when it is not in use.
Brown quickly became a local success in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, as the house band at the Continental Club. His debut album was 1990's 12 Shades of Brown, released by the British Demon Records; it was re-released in 1993 on Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...
in the U.S., followed by Guit with It. In 1995, Brown released Semi Crazy, and followed it with 1997's
1997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
Long Walk Back.
In 1996, Brown was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 is an album by The Beach Boys. Released in 1996, it is, despite its 'Volume 1' sub-title, their only venture into the genre of country pop music....
performing a cover of their 1962 hit "409". The song features Brown playing guitar and singing lead with the Beach Boys singing harmonies and backing vocals. Brown also won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year award in 1996 for his video, "My Wife Thinks You're Dead," which featured 6-foot-7-inch Gwendolyn Gillingham.
Brown's music has been showcased on various TV shows and movie soundtracks, including Me, Myself and Irene
Me, Myself and Irene
Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American comedy film directed by the Farrelly Brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon, and Mongo Brownlee co-star...
, SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
and the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard (film)
The Dukes of Hazzard is a 2005 comedy film based on the American television series of the same name. The film was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and released on August 5, 2005 by Warner Bros. Pictures...
remake, in which he also played the narrator.
Although Brown plays traditional country and Hawaiian steel styles, few of his performances will finish without some blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
playing and surf-rock instrumentals.
Beginning in August 2006 Brown joined Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's third tour of American minor league baseball stadiums.
In April 2008, Brown shot three pilot episodes of a country music program modeled after programs from the early 60s, in which Brown will play with a house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
as well as guests as host of the show.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
||
| 1974 | The Last Mile Ramblers - While They Last! | — | — |
| 1990 | 12 Shades of Brown | — | — |
| 1993 | Guit with It | — | — |
| 1995 | Junior High (EP) | 48 | 26 |
| 1996 | Semi Crazy | 32 | 19 |
| 1998 | Long Walk Back | 34 | 19 |
| 2001 | Mixed Bag | 52 | — |
| 2004 | Down Home Chrome | 73 | — |
| 2005 | Greatest Hits | — | — |
| 2005 | Live at the Continental Club: The Austin Experience | — | — |
Singles
| Year | Title | US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | "Highway Patrol" | 73 | Guit with It |
| 1995 | "My Wife Thinks You're Dead" | 68 | |
| 1996 | "Venom Wearin' Denim" | — | Semi Crazy |
| "I Hung It Up" | — | ||
| 1997 | "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" (w/ Hank Thompson) | — | Real Thing (Hank Thompson album) |
Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | "Highway Patrol" | Roger Pistole |
| 1995 | "My Wife Thinks You're Dead" | Michael McNamara |
| "Sugarfoot Rag" | Roger Pistole | |
| 1996 | "Venom Wearin' Denim" | Michael McNamara |
| "I Hung It Up" | ||
| 1997 | "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" (w/ Hank Thompson) | Jim Gerik |
External links
- Official Junior Brown web site
- [ Allmusic]