Brown's Bag

Chicago neo-soul act Brown's Bag united two unrelated Windy City veterans, Ward Brown and Sherrod Brown. A June 30, 2006 Chicago Reader profile by Bob Mehr recounted how Ward, who lived beside blues legend Muddy Waters as a child, joined his siblings in multiple R&B revue groups throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. He joined the local Black Hole label as a staff songwriter in 1983, then launched Early Park Limited, his personal studio, ten years afterward. Sherrod, son of Lyric Opera fixture Willie Brown, ranked among the facility’s earliest patrons after sharpening his craft as a freelance pianist, composer, and arranger. The pair first collaborated in 1995 under the name King Kat before losing touch when Sherrod moved to Florida. Their alliance reignited after Sherrod’s 2001 return to Chicago, prompting them to channel classic Windy City soul on the debut Brown’s Bag album Labor of Love. Bush Man Entertainment released the record in late 2005; though pressed in an edition of just 1,000 copies, it cultivated an intense European following that led to the duo’s first live appearance in London during summer 2006.