Junior Brown

Born in 1952 amid the rural stretches around Kirksville, Indiana, Junior Brown grew into a vocalist and explosive guitarist whose rowdy fusion of country and rock & roll turned him into a notable crossover figure. Piano lessons from his father came first, followed by country exposure via radio and television broadcasts that made him an admirer of Ernest Tubb’s recordings and weekly program. He entered the professional music world in the final years of the 1960s, still a teenager.

Guitar technique developed quietly through the 1970s until Brown took a teaching post at the Hank Thompson School of Country Music, an affiliate of Rogers State College in Oklahoma. While instructing there under steel-guitar pioneer Leon McAuliffe, a former member of Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, he encountered student “the lovely Miss Tanya Rae,” whom he married in 1988; she later became a rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist in his band. Around the same period a dream inspired him to design an instrument that would merge a standard six-string guitar with its steel counterpart. In 1985 he approached luthier Michael Stevens, resulting in the “guit-steel,” a double-neck model that paired both instruments. Ten years afterward the pair reconvened to refine the design, giving rise to Brown’s cherry-finished instrument, “Big Red.”

Relocating to Austin, Texas, Brown and his ensemble secured the house-band slot at the Continental Club, where steady audience buzz led to a recording contract. His first album, 12 Shades of Brown, appeared in 1993 and included the Ernest Tubb homage “My Baby Don’t Dance to Nothing but Ernest Tubb,” along with striking instrumental passages that merged Western swing, honky tonk, and electrified Bakersfield country. Guit With It arrived later that year and likewise drew strong critical praise. After the 1995 five-song interim EP Junior High, Brown released Semi-Crazy in 1996, extending the approach of earlier work. The Long Walk Back followed in 1998 and leaned further into rockabilly. His fifth album, Mixed Bag, came out in 2001. Down Home Chrome appeared on Telarc in 2004 yet retained the familiar style. Curb issued the twelve-song collection Greatest Hits in June 2005, and Telarc followed in September with Live at the Continental Club: The Austin Experience.