On August 12th Bob Dylan will begin a tour playing in minor league ballparks throughout America. The tour comes to New Britain Stadium, home of the Rock Cats, on Tuesday August 29th. Accompanying Dylan on this tour will be a couple of hot shot Texans named Jimmie Vaughan and Junior Brown. Also on board are Elana James and the Continental Two and Lou Ann Barton. This is arguably one of the best show coming to Connecticut this summer!
It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of the people buying tickets for these shows are buying them to see the legendary Bob Dylan. Also, many people know of Jimmie because he’s the older brother of the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan. But Junior Brown is a legendary figure himself. He’s a clever songwriter with a deep rich voice, not unlike Johnny Cash. He’s the guy with that crazy looking instrument called a Guit-steel, which is a combination electric and steel guitar. Just wait until you see him play it. Junior also played the role of the Balladeer in “The Dukes of Hazzard” movie.
After a string of records on the Curb label, Junior has released two outstanding recordings on the stellar Telarc label. “Down Home Chrome” is his latest studio release which came out in 2004. And just this year Junior recorded “Live at the Continental Club – The Austin Experience.” This wonderful disc captures Junior in full glory playing to a raucous and enthusiastic audience. I had the pleasure of talking to Junior by phone on the afternoon of Saturday July 9th. Junior was at his home in Texas.
BH – You seem to have quite a history of playing at the Continental Club. I’m not surprised that you would record a live record there.
JB - “Yeah, they were the one club where I had my weekly gig that I built up over the years and got more and more successful with. It started out with just a few guitar players in there on Monday nights and then after a while it started getting more people in. Eventually I did a showcase in that club for the South by Southwest music conference and that was what led to my record contract with Curb Records. So I really had a lot of success from that club. Some of that story is on the liner notes from the album.”
BH – Tell me the story behind that crazy looking instrument that you play?
JB - “Well the first one I designed was built in 1985 and then the red one was built in 1995, ten years later. And now I’m working on a third one that has pedals. There was a third one built as a matter of fact but I don’t use it very much, it wasn’t built by Michael Stevens (www.stevensguitars.com) and it had some design problems but it’s a beautiful instrument made out of birdseye maple. But actually the fourth one is going to be the one with the pedals on it. It’s going to be more like a pedal steel guitar, bigger with a guitar neck coming out of it.”
BH – So Junior, I was reading different things about you and thing style of music you play. I heard it described as country, blues, honky tonk, rockabilly, roots rock, Americana, tex mex, and western swing. Am I missing anything?
JB - “That’s about it! A little bit of everything but if you were to try to sum it all up I’d say the most common thread in the whole thing is traditional country music. All the other things sort of revolve around that.”
BH – If country music was in a lull back in the eighties, do you think we’re in a revival period today?
JB - “Remember I said traditional country music. But there have been lulls periodically throughout history but the lull I was talking about was more like live music. But there have been lulls and there have been little resurgences here and there.”
BH – But do you think we’re in a resurgence today?
JB - “No. The resurgences haven’t necessarily brought us closer to country music. For instance, there was a resurgence when the ‘Urban Cowboy’ movie came out with John Travolta which around 1980. Everybody wanted to go out and buy cowboy clothes and listen to country music, or their idea of country music, and go to honky tonks and dance and all that. Well yeah, that was a resurgence, but I don’t think it did anything for country music really. So you have to sort of look at what the word resurgence and what the word lull really means. It’s all subjective there too because it’s all whatever your opinion is. My view is that really nothing good has come out of any significant quality since the mid-seventies. After 1975 it was pretty much over for the stuff I like. Not to say that there haven’t been occasionally a good song here and there. I think Rickey Scaggs is brilliant at what he does, but then again he went over to the bluegrass thing. He went back to his roots as a bluegrass guy which I think is better for him. But aside from that I don’t see any really brilliant guys coming along and carrying it on.”
BH – A country girl did win American Idol though.
JB - “Yeah I kind of like her, Carrie Underwood. I sort of like her because she seems honest and down to earth and sincere. And that’s what we’ve lost. So I think if there is any hope it’s people like that that haven’t been tainted by other things. Not to say she does the kind of country I like. I mean she does the kind of stuff they do in Nashville now which isn’t my cup of tea. But as far as personality and somebody with feeling and those qualities I mentioned, I think she’s good.”
BH – Tell me about The Dukes of Hazzard. How did that come about?
JB – “One of the guys in the film who’s a fan of mine, Johnny Knoxville, had apparently thrown my name into the hat, from what I can understand. And they were considering several guys much more famous than I am and apparently they wanted too much money. It got down to Jerry Reed and me and Jerry Reed got the part. And then they called me back like a week later and said Jerry Reed is out for whatever reason and I got it. Burt Reynolds really wanted Jerry Reed in there because they had done ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ together. So one thing led to another, I don’t know if it was money or what it was, but I got it.”
BH – Tell me how the Dylan tour came about?
JB - “I never met him before, we have some mutual friends but apparently he was a fan and wanted me to open up for him so the deal was made through my agent and we did it. So I’m opening for him. Jimmie Vaughan will come on next and then Dylan.”
BH – Is Jimmie Vaughan someone you’ve known for a long time?
JB - “Yeah, I used to give him steel guitar lessons back in the eighties believe it or not. He was getting interested in steel guitar back then and he liked the Hawaiian stuff which I also like. That’s how I got to know him and we’ve been friends ever since.”
BH – What’s next for you Junior after the tour is over. Will you record another CD for Telarc?
JB - “Possibly, I don’t know. I’ve done the two albums with them that I contracted to do so I’m kind of a free agent right now. And I’m not in any hurry, I may to something else with Telarc but I’m not in any hurry to do an album. I’m really a quality control stickler and I want to make sure it’s as good as it can be. People get in this big rush to get an album out every year and I think you get a little ahead of yourself. You can get ahead of yourself if you try to put out too much product. On the other hand the audience always wants to hear something new so I’m going to have to get with it so to speak.”
Junior Brown was born in Cottonwood, Arizona in 1952. One surprising thing I found out when talking to him was that he lived in Connecticut for a short time as a child. “My grandfather had an artist studio in Westport and I lived in Wilton,” said Junior. “That was back in the fifties and we lived next door to Raymond Masse the actor. I remember playing on those big gray rocks from the glaziers up in the beautiful woods and that little jack in the pulpit, you know those plant/flowers that grew out of the marsh. These are the things you remember as a kid especially when you move somewhere else and that ‘somewhere else’ doesn’t have those things.” Yeah Junior, Connecticut is a beautiful state and it will be nice to see you back here on August 29th!