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| Texas Johnny Brown @ Lucern Blues Festival |
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TEXAS JOHNNY BROWN:
Both Feet In The Blues
By Jerry Clayworth
(Press Release for a 2007 Concert Event)
Born in rural Mississippi in 1929, guitarist TEXAS JOHNNY BROWN is one of those truly rare figures in the grand scheme of Texas', and more specifically, Gulf Coast blues' "big picture"....
After spending his formative years deep in the heart of Mississippi, where he was inspired to take up music under his father's tutelage, the soulful stringer's path was laid.
Johnny began playing the guitar as a youngster during the mid-1930's, and by the late 1940's he had honed his craft, moved to Houston, and become a fast-rising session & touring player in the legendary Duke & Peacock Records' stables. One of his first key gigs was holding down the guitar duties in Amos Milburn's band (which is what brought Johnny to the fabled Eastwood Country Club stage for the first time in 1947).
He then went on to record & perform with Junior Parker, Bobby Blue Bland (for whom Brown penned the all-time classic tune "Two Steps From The Blues"), and so many others. He's been heard on the recordings of countless Houston area blues & soul masters, and the solo sides that Johnny Brown recorded for Atlantic Records in 1949 are absolute classics of the genre!
Fast forward to the mid-1990's.... There was a major resurgence of interest & appreciation in the forerunners of that early Houston blues scene, and especially in the old Duke/Peacock players. Johnny Copeland, Joe Hughes, Clarence Hollimon, Teddy Reynolds, and of course Texas Johnny Brown quickly became household names, and were in high demand for both club & festival appearances. San Antonio blues officianados fully embraced these newly rediscovered musical treasures, and Johnny Brown was beloved above & beyond all the rest.
Many appearances at the old Billy Blues BBQ, and three times as a headliner at the famed Bowie Street Blues Festival solidified his place in the hearts of blues fans in SA! Over the last decade, he has headlined the New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and the renowned Lucerne (Switzerland) Blues Festival, and more.
Catching Johnny with his full "Quality Blues Band" in-tow, blues lovers will always be treated to a full evening of the most powerful & soulful sounds around....
Texas Johnny Brown is the epitome of living, breathing, vital Texas blues history!
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