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seemed as if debonair guit-steel slinger Junior Brown
came from out of nowhere in the early 1990s. Brown,
however, had already been waiting in the wings, sharp
ening his reverb-heavy, double-decker picking style for several
years. Partnered with an instrument now synonymous with his own
name, nearly 15 years later, Junior Brown remains the undisputed
heavyweight champion of the guit-steel—part twangy electric
guitar, part quivering pedal steel—and a man apart from today's
homogenized landscape of country music. Brown hasn't officially
released an album since 2005's Live At the Continental Club: The
Austin Experience, but he's still a formidable presence on the road.
He and bass player/ wife Tanya Brown, alongside a precision-
tested road band, knock 'em dead nightly with a repertoire that
effortlessly jumps from hardcore Ernest Tubb-style honky-tonk to
Hendrix's "Foxy Lady," all the while keeping one foot on the ef
fects pedal.
In the last couple years, the Texas musician has lent his buck
et-deep baritone and guit-steel prowess to kiddie/ adult cartoon
fave "Spongebob Squarepants" and partnered up with original guit-
steel designer Michael Stevens to make future models of the cus
tom instrument available for purchase by other musicians. Flagpole
picked up these and other tidbits from Brown recently while speak
ing with him by phone from his tour stop somewhere east of Dallas
and west of here.
Flagpole: The general public became aware of you through the
first couple records you put out, Guit With It and 12 Shades of
Brown. But you were out there making music before that.
Junior Brown: I had mostly worked as a sideman, sometimes
on the steel guitar, but mostly as a guitar-player sideman. I man
aged to work a good bit freelancing with bands throughout the
70s, but during the early '80s, the country crowds started to dry
up with more people getting into rock bands and stuff. I started
teaching guitar lessons during the mid-'80s to supplement my in
come, along with still playing as a sideman for people.
After that, I realized I'd better get serious and start writing
some songs because time, it was a-wasting [laughs]. I'd just real
ized that I had to get more serious about my writing, or I wasn't
going to make much of a solo artist.
FP: You're known primarily as a country artist, but you mix dif
ferent subgenres like surf-rock, honky-tonk, countrypolitan and oth
ers. Do you see a connecting thread that links them together?
JB: I guess it'd be the combination of the guit-steel, the way
a song works with the guitar and steel guitar parts together.
That's what sort of takes me off to the different worlds, mostly.
Sometimes, it will be the lyrics, like I'll sing a song in Spanish
just because I really love the song and that doesn't have too much
to do with the guitar parts at all. It's usually how everything fits
with the guitar, though. I just go off on these different journeys
on things I'm interested in. Most of my favorite music, though, is
honky-tonk country. That's the style that I write in, mostly. A lot
of it comes from different stuff I messed around with as a teen
ager, like the surfer guitar, or from past experiences of things I've
enjoyed. I just like to try a lot of different guitar styles here and
there... some Hawaiian, some country steel, some blues stuff.
FP: Would you consider an instrument like the steel guitar, that's
been so essential to country music's past, as taken for granted to
day?
JB: Ah, it's all gone. Most of the true old country style I like
can be found on old records and that's about it.
FP: How did the guit-steel originally come about? Do you have
any fellow guit-steel players out there these days?
JB: Well, it started with having to choose between an electric
guitar and a steel guitar while onstage. I just got tired of switch
ing between them and having to plug this one in and unplug that
one.
That's the main reason I wanted to build one, to cut down on
the switching out while I was singing. Now, it's just become part
of me and I'm the guy that plays those things!
We're starting to sell some of 'em, actually. Michael Stevens,
the guy that built the original one for me, has started custom
building them for a few people, so you'll probably see more pop
ping up here and there.
FP: You haven't released an album in a while. Got anything fresh
and tasty on the backbumer?
JB: Yeah, I have some songs that I'll record one of these days,
but they're not quite ready yet. A lot of people get the impression
that they have to go and put opt a record every year. If I can't put
out a really good record, I don't jump on it just to do it, y'know?
I don't do tribute records or special guest records anymore, both
of which have been done to death. So, a Junior Brown & Friends
record probably isn't something that will be coming up in the near
future [laughs]. That's not for having a lack of friends, but the for
mat's just been cliched.
Or you have the "let's do a tribute to so and so" album where
they get a bunch of people together to do these songs and the
whole thing ends up having nothing to do with the so-and-so in
question. I just try to avoid stuff like that.
Michael Andrews
WHO: Junior Brown, Clay Leverett & John Neff
WHERE: Melting Point
WHEN: Thursday, August 23
HOW MUCH: $22.50 (advance), $25 (day of show)
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