T. Graham Brown

T. Graham Brown achieved prominence in country music via beach music, the distinctive Southern style that fuses vintage rock and roll, R&B, country, and blues into an energetic party soundtrack. Anthony, born in Arabi, Georgia, began performing during his University of Georgia years as one half of the beach music duo Dirk & Tony. He next became part of the outlaw country outfit Reo Diamond and cultivated a shaggy, tattooed renegade look beneath a ten-gallon hat. In 1979 he assembled his own R&B group, Rack of Spam, and committed to T. Graham Brown as his performing name. Three years later he relocated to Nashville, where Harlan Howard helped him secure sessions singing demos and advertising jingles.

CBS hired him in 1983 as a staff songwriter, after which he performed the same duties for Tree International publishing. At the same time he obtained a recording contract with Capitol and issued his first album, I Tell It Like It Used to Be, in 1986. Portions were tracked at Alabama’s historic Muscle Shoals studios; the set delivered the number-one country single “Hell or High Water,” while both the title track and “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again” reached the Top Ten. The 1987 follow-up Brilliant Conversationalist supplied another chart-topper with “Don’t Go to Strangers” plus two additional Top Tens, “She Couldn’t Love Me Anymore” and the title song. That year Brown also appeared in the films Greased Lightning and Cursed; in 1988 he and his backing band the Hardtops portrayed Elvis Presley’s musicians in Heartbreak Hotel.

Come as You Were, released in 1988, extended his streak with the number-one hit “Darlene” and two further Top Ten entries, the title track and “The Last Resort.” Alcoholism nevertheless began to hinder his momentum. He scored one last Top Ten country single, 1990’s “If You Could Only See Me Now,” and shared the hit “Don’t Go Out” with Tanya Tucker that same year. After You Can’t Take It with You failed to chart in 1991, Capitol dropped him; subsequent agreements with Warner Bros. and Sony Nashville were likewise terminated before any material emerged. Brown spent most of the decade addressing his addiction and resurfaced in 1998 with the well-received Wine into Water, an introspective project that revived his roots-rock direction. The live set T. Graham Brown Lives! followed in 2001.

Throughout the new millennium the sober artist sustained a modest profile through club dates and independent releases such as 2003’s The Next Right Thing and 2004’s Live at Billy Bob’s Texas. Following 2006’s The Present he stepped away from the studio until Forever Changed appeared nine years later. The spiritually oriented album featured contributions from Leon Russell, the Oak Ridge Boys, Jason Crabb, and studio guitarist Steve Cropper. Issued through Sony-affiliated Mansion Entertainment, it garnered strong notices and earned Brown his first Grammy nomination for Best Roots Gospel Album.