Jamieson "Junior" Brown (born June 12, 1952)[2] is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released twelve studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboardcountry singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel guitar.
Brown was born in Cottonwood, Arizona; at an early age his family moved to Kirksville, Indiana.[1][3] He first learned to play piano from his father (Samuel Emmons Brown Jr.) "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, Billy Spears and Asleep at the Wheel while developing his guitar skills.[citation needed] In the early 1980s, he appeared on stage with Rank and File as the replacement for Alejandro Escovedo. However, he did not feature on any recordings by that band.[citation needed]
In 1985, Brown created a new type of double-neck guitar, with some assistance from Michael Stevens.[4][5] Brown called the instrument his "guit-steel". When performing, Brown plays the guitar by standing behind it, while it rests on a small music stand. The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional six-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 six-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 identical Sho-Bud lap-steel pickups. There is a pocket in the upper bout of the guitar to hold the slide bar when it is not in use. Brown also commissioned a "pedal guit-steel" which adds pedals to the instrument for more musical control.[6] Brown has stated that the invention of the guit-steel was always a matter of convenience so that he could play both lap steel and lead guitar during live performances and not directly motivated by a desire to be a "one man band".[6]
Junior Brown performing at the 2014 Kitchener Blues Festival
Brown quickly became a local success in Austin, Texas, as the house band at the Continental Club. His debut album was 12 Shades of Brown (1990), released by the British Demon Records; it was re-released in 1993 on Curb Records in the United States, followed by Guit with It. In 1996, Brown released Semi Crazy, and followed it with Long Walk Back (1998).
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.[citation needed]
Brown appeared in the music video for "Honky Tonk Song" by George Jones in 1996 and also won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year award that year for his video, "My Wife Thinks You're Dead", which featured 6-foot-7-inch Gwendolyn Gillingham.[7] Brown played a cameo part in "Drive", the second episode of season six of The X-Files. Brown's music has been showcased on various television series and movie soundtracks, including Me, Myself & Irene, SpongeBob SquarePants and the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard remake, in which he also played the narrator.[citation needed]
Beginning in August 2006, Brown joined Webb Wilder's tour of American minor league baseball stadiums. He reprised his role in an episode ("World of Hurt, BC") of Adult Swim's Xavier: Renegade Angel created by rock band PFFR. In April 2008, Brown shot three pilot episodes of a country music program modeled after programs from the early 1960s, in which Brown will play with a house band as well as guests as host of the show.[8] On October 12, 2012, Brown released the EP Volume 10, containing six new songs.
AMC previewed the video of his new song "Better Call Saul", on October 5, 2014.[9] On May 24, 2018, Brown released his 11th album, Deep in the Heart Of Me.
On October 6, 2019, Junior Brown's "guit-steel" guitar, along with his wife's Shenandoah acoustic guitar, was reported as stolen from a vehicle parked at a hotel in North Attleboro, Massachusetts near Providence, Rhode Island. Brown and his wife had been in the area visiting relatives.[10]
On May 27, 2020, Rolling Stone magazine's listing of 50 Country Albums Every Rock Fan Should Own, honored Brown’s US released album, 12 Shades of Brown (Curb Records, 1993).[citation needed]
In May 2020, Brown and his wife began hosting a series of live Facebook concerts under the name, "The Junior & Tanya Rae Brown Show".[citation needed]
A steel guitar is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger. Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand.
Clarence Leonidas Fender was an American inventor and founder of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
Norman Russell Young was an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, best known as one of the frontmen in the influential country rock and Americana band Poco.
Gary Ronnie Stewart was an American musician and songwriter, known for his distinctive vibrato voice and his outlaw country sound influenced by southern rock. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Time magazine described him as the "king of honkytonk." He had a series of country chart hits from the mid- to late 1970s, the biggest of which was "She's Actin' Single ", which topped the U.S. country singles chart in 1975.
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics it shares with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with Country music and Hawaiian music.
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or Lap Slide Guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional acoustic guitar, in which the performer's fingertips press the strings against frets, the pitch of a steel guitar is changed by pressing a polished steel bar against plucked strings. Though the instrument does not have frets, it displays markers that resemble them. Lap steels may differ markedly from one another in external appearance, depending on whether they are acoustic or electric, but in either case, do not have pedals, distinguishing them from pedal steel guitars.
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar, Andrew DuPlantis, John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Mark Spencer. In addition to playing alternative rock, the band is considered a staple of the alternative country rock movement of the 1990s. The band's sound also is rooted in folk rock and Americana. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2001, before reforming in 2004.
Donald Hugh Helms was an American musician who was the steel guitar player of Hank Williams's Drifting Cowboys group. He was a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1984).
Bing Bang Boom is the fourth studio album by American country music band Highway 101, released in 1991 It was the band's first release following the departure of original lead singer Paulette Carlson, with Nikki Nelson on lead vocals. The album's title track was its first single, reaching #14 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. After it came "The Blame" at #31, "Baby, I'm Missing You" at #22 and "Honky Tonk Baby" at #54.
The Dusty Chaps was an American country rock band based in Tucson, AZ from 1969 through the early 1980s. In 1975 they released their first album Honky Tonk Music on a small Tucson label, Bandoleer Records. The band subsequently signed with Capitol Records and rerecorded Honky Tonk Music with an added track in 1977. They released another album on Capitol, Domino Joe (1978). Band members included Peter Gierlach ; George Hawke ; Pat McAndrew ; Leonardo Lopez ; Steve Solomon ; Bill Emrie (violin); Red Davidson ; and Ted Hockenbury. For some time the Chaps were the house band at Tucson's renowned Stumble Inn as well as the Poco Loco.
John McFee is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long-time member of The Doobie Brothers.
Walls Can Fall is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1992 on the MCA Nashville Records. It peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 77 on The Billboard 200 chart. Walls Can Fall went Gold in 1994.
Honky Tonk Christmas is the fourth studio album and the first Christmas album by country music artist Alan Jackson, and was released on October 12, 1993. The title track, "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "I Only Want You for Christmas" charted on the Hot Country Songs charts.
Songs About Me is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Trace Adkins. It was released on March 22, 2005, via Capitol Records Nashville. His highest-selling album to date, it has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA and had sold 1.5 million copies. Singles from this album include the title track, "Arlington", and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". The title track and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" both went to No.2 and "Arlington" went to No.16 on the U.S. BillboardHot Country Songs charts. "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" was also a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100 charts as well.
Neil Lanny Flanz was a Canadian pedal steel guitarist who grew up in Montreal. In the mid-1960s he moved to Nashville and played on the Grand Ole Opry. He later lived in Florida and Austin, Texas. The Austin Chronicle dubbed Flanz' playing style as "country traditionalist". He is perhaps best known for his performance as a member of Gram Parsons' Fallen Angels. He played and toured for over 30 years with artists including Marcia Ball, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Louvin and Joe Sun. Flanz was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2016.
Whitey Morgan and the 78's are an American country band based in Flint, Michigan. In 2010, they signed a recording contract with Chicago-based Bloodshot Records.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors.
The Cowboy Dave Band is a honky-tonk group, currently based along the Front Range of Colorado. The country quintet was originally formed in 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Cowboy Dave Wilson, who also served as the long-time front man for the cowpunk group FortyTwenty.
Noel Edwin Boggs was an American musician who was a virtuoso on the lap steel guitar and a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. He was one of the pioneers in electric steel guitar who helped popularize the instrument beyond its native Hawaiian music into other genres of American popular music, specifically Western Swing. Boggs played and recorded with almost every major artist in the genre including Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1944-1945) and Spade Cooley's Dance Band. Bob Wills' band helped define the guitar's role in western swing; Wills discovered and coached innovative guitarists who deeply influenced country, rock and jazz music. Boggs appeared on some 2000 recordings as a soloist and his playing was prominent on several of Wills' hits that became Western swing standards, including "Roly Poly" and "Stay a Little Longer".
Jimmy Day was an American steel guitarist active in the 1950s and 1960s. His career in country music blossomed about the time the pedal steel guitar was invented—after pedals were added to the lap steel guitar. He was a pioneer on pedal steel in the genres of Western swing and Honky tonk and his modifications of the instrument's design have become a standard on the modern pedal steel. Day's first job after high school was performing on the Louisiana Hayride as a sideman accompanying developing country artists including Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, Ray Price and Elvis Presley. He recorded and toured with all these artists and was featured on hit records by many of them, including Ray Price's, "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches by the Number". He was a member of Elvis Presley's band for about a year, but, along with fellow bandmate Floyd Cramer, resigned after Presley requested them to re-locate to Hollywood. Day moved to Nashville to work as a session player and a Grand Ole Opry musician. He was a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame (1994) and the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1999). Day died of cancer in 1999.
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