Greg Brown (folk musician)

Last updated
Greg Brown
GregBrown FalconRidge-2004.jpg
Greg Brown at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in 2004
Background information
Birth nameGregory Dane Brown
Born (1949-07-02) July 2, 1949 (age 74)
Fairfield, Iowa, U.S.
Genres Folk
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • guitarist
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • harmonica
Years active1967–present
Labels Red House
Website gregbrownmusic.org

Gregory Dane Brown (born July 2, 1949) is an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Iowa. [1]

Contents

Early life

Brown was born into a musical family, and his father was a Pentecostal minister. He grew up in the Hacklebarney region of southwestern Iowa, which he describes as "hill country." [2] Brown spent several years traveling with a band before returning to Iowa, where he performed live and pursued his songwriting career. [3]

Career

Performing with Bo Ramsey in Dubuque Iowa in May 2008. Greg Brown Bo Ramsey.jpg
Performing with Bo Ramsey in Dubuque Iowa in May 2008.

During the 1980s Brown toured and had recurring performances on A Prairie Home Companion . [3] Brown self-published two albums, 44 & 66 and The Iowa Waltz . Bob Feldman and Susan Ode founded the record company called Red House Records after producing a sold-out concert at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1990. Brown became its first recording artist. [4] Brown has recorded two dozen albums. In 1986 he released an album called Songs of Innocence and of Experience based on poems by William Blake. His album One Big Town (1989) won an Indie Award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors [5] and marked the beginning of Brown's long collaboration with Iowa guitarist Bo Ramsey.

The Poet Game (1994), his tenth studio album, saw significant international radio play (charting on AAA and topping The Gavin Report’s Americana chart) and earned not only critical raves, but also a NAIRD Indie award for singer-songwriter Album of the Year. The Live One (1995) proved to be a fan favorite capturing the humor, warmth, insights and spirit of his live shows. His 1996 release, Further In , topped them all: critics called it a masterpiece and it received a four-star review in Rolling Stone. [6] Greg’s 1997 release — Slant 6 Mind — received more of the same and earned Greg his second Grammy nomination. [5]

1999 brought the re-release of One Night , a live concert recording from October 1983 originally released on the Coffeehouse Extempore label. His album Solid Heart CD was recorded in 1999 during a benefit concert. Two releases followed in 2000: Over and Under (Trailer Records) and the critically acclaimed Covenant , which won the Association for Independent Music’s award for Best Contemporary Folk Album of 2000. A 2002 tribute album, Going Driftless: An Artist’s Tribute to Greg Brown featured guest vocal performances by Ani DiFranco, Gillian Welch, Shawn Colvin, and his three daughters.

In 2006 he released The Evening Call , which Acoustic Guitar magazine described as "among Brown's finest work" [7] and which was featured on an episode of NPR's On Point. [2] A recording of another benefit concert was recorded and released in 2007 under the name Yellow Dog on the EarthWorks Music label. In 2007, Brown was nominated for a Folk Alliance Award. [8] [9] In 2010, Brown played Hades on Hadestown , a concept album by Anaïs Mitchell. His most recent studio album, Hymns to What Is Left, was released in 2012.

Personal life

Greg Brown has been married three times. He has one daughter from his first marriage: Pieta Brown; and two from his second marriage: Constance Brown and Zoe Brown—all three are musicians. He has one son. [10] Brown married singer-songwriter Iris DeMent in November 2002. In 2005, he and his wife adopted a daughter from Russia, Daria Chesnokva Victorona (Dasha Brown). [3]

Discography

Tribute albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ani DiFranco</span> American musician (born 1970)

Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influences from punk, funk, hip hop and jazz. She has released all her albums on her own record label, Righteous Babe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Williams</span> American singer, songwriter and musician (born 1958)

Victoria Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, Williams was the catalyst for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Browne</span> American singer, songwriter and political activist (born 1948)

Clyde Jackson Browne is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Paxton</span> American folk singer and singer-songwriter

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a music educator as well as an advocate for folk singers to combine traditional songs with new compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Avett Brothers</span> American folk-rock band

The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett and Seth Avett along with Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon. Mike Marsh (drums), Tania Elizabeth (fiddle) and Bonnie Avett-Rini (piano) are touring members of the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellis Paul</span> American singer-songwriter and musician

Ellis Paul is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Presque Isle, Aroostook County, Maine, Paul is a key figure in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, a literate, provocative, and urbanely romantic folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s. His pop music songs have appeared in movies and on television, bridging the gap between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Erelli</span> Musical artist

Mark Erelli is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before pursuing a career in music. Erelli has released nine solo albums and three collaborative albums. His self-titled debut album was released in 1999, the same year that he won the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk Award. His first recording for the Signature Sounds label, Compass & Companion, spent ten weeks in the Top Ten on the Americana Chart. Erelli has worked as a side musician for singer songwriters Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter. He has performed at various music festivals and shared the stage with John Hiatt, Dave Alvin, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's song “People Look Around”, which he co-wrote with Catie Curtis, was the Grand Prize winner at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. His songs have been recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot, and Red Molly.

Red House Records is an independent folk and Americana record label in St. Paul, Minnesota. The label was founded in 1983 by Bob Feldman after seeing a performance by Iowa folk singer Greg Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anaïs Mitchell</span> American singer-songwriter

Anaïs Mitchell is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including Hadestown (2010), Young Man in America (2012), Child Ballads (2013), and Anaïs Mitchell (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Wictor</span> American singer-songwriter

Pat Wictor is an American blues and folk musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and recording artist. Known for his ethereal style, he was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2006 by the Folk Alliance, and has released a number of solo albums. In 2010 Wictor co-founded the folk trio Brother Sun, with singer-songwriters Joe Jencks and Greg Greenway, and the band has since released two full albums and toured extensively. Wictor also has an extensive discography as a sideman, playing instruments such as lap slide guitar and dobro. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

"These Days" is a song written by Jackson Browne and recorded by numerous artists. Browne wrote the song at age 16; its lyrics deal with loss and regret. It was first recorded by Nico in 1967 for her album Chelsea Girl, and Nico's arrangement was recorded by several other artists. Tom Rush recorded the tune with a string arrangement for his album Tom Rush in 1970. Gregg Allman recorded a new arrangement of the song for his 1973 LP Laid Back, and Browne released his own version, based on Allman's arrangement, on For Everyman, also in 1973. "These Days" has since been recorded by many other artists, and remains one of Browne's most enduring compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieta Brown</span> American musician and singer-songwriter

Pieta Brown is a critically acclaimed American artist, musician, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who has released eight albums and five EPs. She has performed with artists such as Mark Knopfler, John Prine, Amos Lee, Justin Vernon and Calexico. Although she's considered a folk/indie singer-songwriter, Brown also names country blues and jazz as strong influences on her musical style.

<i>If I Had Known: Essential Recordings, 1980–96</i> 2003 compilation album by Greg Brown

If I Had Known: Essential Recordings, 1980–96 is a two-disc retrospective of music recorded by American folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown.

Ben Perowsky is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and Upstream Trio with Chris Speed and John Medeski. He is a founding member of the electric jazz group Lost Tribe. A prolific sideman, Perowsky has performed with Roy Ayers, John Scofield, The Lounge Lizards, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Darryl Jenifer, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Walter Becker, Steven Bernstein., and John Zorn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth Avett</span> American musician

Timothy Seth Avett is one of the lead singers and founding members of the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Avett sings and plays guitar, drums, bass, and piano for the band based out of Concord, North Carolina. In 2008, their album, The Second Gleam, reached the number ten spot on Billboard.com's Top Independent Albums chart, and stayed there for three weeks.

<i>Hadestown</i> (album) 2010 studio album by Anaïs Mitchell

Hadestown is the fourth studio album by American folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, and was released by Righteous Babe Records on March 9, 2010. The concept album, which became the basis for the stage musical of the same name, follows a variation on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus must embark on a quest to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld. It has been advertised as a "folk opera". Several of the songs feature singers other than Mitchell, including Justin Vernon, Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Ben Knox Miller and Tanya, Petra and Rachel Haden.

Michael Chorney is an American saxophone and guitar player, composer, arranger, and music producer. His bands include Feast or Famine, So-Called Jazz Quintet, So-Called Jazz Sextet, ViperHouse, Magic City, Orchid, 7 Deadly Sins, the Michael Chorney Sextet, and Hollar General.

The Haden Triplets, Petra, Tanya, and Rachel, are musicians who have performed individually in bands and together. They are the daughters of jazz double-bassist Charlie Haden.

<i>Hadestown</i> 2006 musical by Anaïs Mitchell

Hadestown is a sung-through musical with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the Greek underworld to escape poverty and the cold, and her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to rescue her.

The musical Hadestown, written by American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and based on her 2010 studio album of the same name, has had two official cast recordings. In addition, various songs from Hadestown were re-recorded by Mitchell for her 2014 studio album Xoa, including the musical's opening number "Anyway the Wind Blows" which had not appeared on the original concept album. The song "Why We Build the Wall" has been covered by a variety of artists, including English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg for his 2017 EP Bridges Not Walls, Ben Fisher, Ben Dunham, Lilli Lewis, and Robert Neustadt.

References

  1. Deming, Mark. "Greg Brown". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Greg Brown". www.wbur.org. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  3. 1 2 3 Aspen Times News interview. Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine Accessed on April 22, 2008.
  4. Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen (2002-11-24). "Industry Profile: Bob Feldman". CelebrityAccess. Retrieved 2006-04-08.
  5. 1 2 Greg Brown Tastes the Honey, Country Standard Time interview. Accessed December 5, 2008.
  6. Rolling Stone review of Further In. Accessed December 5, 2008.
  7. "Acoustic Guitar Central: Acoustic Music CD Reviews". 2011-05-20. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  8. Folk Alliance Award nominees for 2007 at About.com. Archived 2007-02-08 at the Wayback Machine Accessed December 5, 2008.
  9. Red House Records' artists' page
  10. Demming, Mark. "Greg Brown Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 12, 2015.