Kenny Brown (born July 5, 1953 on the Air Force base in
Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
* Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cal ...
,
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
) is an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
ist skilled in the
North Mississippi Hill Country blues
Hill country blues (also known as North Mississippi hill country blues or North Mississippi blues) is a regional style of country blues. It is characterized by a strong emphasis on rhythm and percussion, steady guitar riffs, few chord changes, unco ...
style.
Brown apprenticed with
Mississippi Joe Callicott
"Mississippi" Joe Callicott (October 10, 1899 – May 1969) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist.
Callicott was born in Nesbit, Mississippi, United States. In 1929 he played second guitar in Garfield Akers' duet recording, " ...
, who was his neighbor in
Nesbit, Mississippi
Nesbit is an unincorporated community in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States.
History
A post office operated under the name Nesbits Station from 1869 to 1881 and began operating under the name Nesbit in 1881.
In the early 1900s, an academ ...
, from age 12
to 15, when Callicott died.
He had heard
Othar Turner
Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 27, 2003) was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition. His music was also part of the African-American genre known as Hill country blues.
Earl ...
and others in nearby
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and ...
picnics, and cited
Junior Kimbrough
David "Junior" Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician. His best-known works are "Keep Your Hands off Her" and "All Night Long".
Early life
Kimbrough was born in Hudsonville, Mississippi, and lived in the no ...
,
Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...
, and
Johnny Shines
John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Biography
Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of h ...
as influences.
Around 1971, beside working in construction, Brown began playing with two other musicians.
Johnny Woods
Johnny Woods (November 1, 1917 – February 1, 1990) was an American blues singer and harmonica player in the north Mississippi hill country blues style.
Woods was born in Looxahoma, Mississippi, a small town just west of Mississippi Highway ...
would make an occasional playing partner to his death in 1990.
More steady was Brown's learning with
R. L. Burnside
R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Bur ...
, who claimed Brown as his "adopted son,"
[Kenny Brown page]
at Fat Possum and affectionately called him "white boy on guitar"
[ and "my white son." Brown has noted that they had trouble to book dates, when European event organizers would hear he is a ]white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
musician playing the traditionally African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
blues,[ and that American record producers and critics have similar reservations.]
Still in the early seventies they started to perform in their region, and would keep up as a duo for twenty years. Cedric Burnside
Cedric O. Burnside (born August 26, 1978)''Jefferson Blues Magazine, Jefferson'' interview. Issue 141, March 2004Swedish original via Google Translate is an American electric blues guitarist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is the son of blues ...
joined their tours from about 1994, as Burnside's reputation surged. In the 1990s and early 2000s Brown participated in most of Burnside's tours and recordings, including the Burnside-Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was an American three-piece rock band from New York City, formed in 1991. The group consisted of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spenc ...
collaborations and the remixed albums.
Brown first appeared abroad in Sweden in 1989, and later in the 1992 Åmåls Blues Fest Åmåls Blues Fest is a blues festival in Åmål
Åmål () is a locality and the seat of Åmål Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 9,065 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated on the western shore of Vänern.
In 2005 Åmål rece ...
with George "Mojo" Buford
George Carter Buford, Jr. (November 10, 1929 – October 11, 2011), known as Mojo Buford, was an American blues harmonica player best known for his work in Muddy Waters's band.
Biography
Buford relocated from Hernando, Mississippi, to Memp ...
.['']Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
'' interview. Issue 141, March 2004
Swedish original
via Google Translate
On record, he plays second guitar on two of Junior Kimbrough's albums throughout, and on some tracks on the posthumous compilation, ''God Knows I Tried''. He is on tracks by Asie Payton
Asie Reed Payton (April 12, 1937 – May 19, 1997) was an American blues musician, who lived most of his life in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. Born in Washington County, Mississippi, he sang and played the guitar, but made h ...
, CeDell Davis
Ellis CeDell Davis (June 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American blues guitarist and singer. He was most notable for his distinctive style of guitar playing. Davis played guitar using a butter knife in his fretting hand in a manner simil ...
and Paul "Wine" Jones, as well as Frank Frost
Frank Otis Frost (April 15, 1936 or 1938 – October 12, 1999) was one of the foremost American Delta blues harmonica players of his generation.
Life and career
Most sources state that Frost was born in 1936 in Auvergne, Jackson County, Arkansas ...
and Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...
.
Brown's own debut album was ''Goin' Back to Mississippi'' (1996), produced by Dale Hawkins
Delmar Allen "Dale" Hawkins (August 22, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was a pioneer American rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who was often called the architect of swamp rock boogie. Ronnie Hawkins was his cousin.
Biography
He began ...
. He has recorded one album for Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...
, ''Stingray'' (2003). He released ''Cheap, Fast, and Dirty'' (2006) with Danish guitarist Troels Jensen, at Olufsen Records. ''Meet Ya In The Bottom'' (2008) is a CD Baby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
release. His double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
''Can't Stay Long'' (2011) was released on Devil Down Records.
In their 2003 tour he has opened for Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guit ...
(and the extended combo Smiling assassins), as he earlier had with Burnside,
Brown's guitar work was featured in the 2006 film '' Black Snake Moan'', where he provided backing for star Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
's vocals.[Kenny Brown](_blank)
on IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
He can be seen in the film's climax as a guitarist in a blues band, playing alongside Cedric Burnside.
Brown's slide guitar is featured prominently in the Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...
' 2021 album Delta Kream
''Delta Kream'' is the tenth album by American rock duo the Black Keys, released through Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records on May 14, 2021. It is a cover album of hill country blues songs. It was preceded by the April 15 release of a cover of ...
. Gary Walker in his review in Guitar describes Brown's playing as "electrifying" and states that "it’s worth the price of admission for Brown’s scorching slide solo alone." Brown along with bassist Eric Deaton joined the Black Keys' 2022 tour to promote Dropout Boogie
''Dropout Boogie'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock duo the Black Keys. It was released on May 13, 2022, by Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records. The album was preceded by the release of two singles: the lead single "Wild Child", whic ...
, joining the band on stage to perform songs from Delta Kream. Brown (along with Deaton and the Black Key's Dan Auerbach
Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...
) also collaborated with Robert Finley
Robert Finley (1772 – November 3, 1817) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who is known as one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which established the colony of Liberia in West Africa as a place for free Af ...
in the 2021 album ''Sharecropper's Son.''
Brown lives in Potts Camp, Mississippi
Potts Camp is a town in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 523 at the 2010 census.
History
Potts Camp is rooted in a trading post established along the Pontotoc Trail by Colonel Erasmus Potts in the mid-19th century. ...
, in the North Mississippi Hill Country with his wife Sara.
Films
*''You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen'' (2003; released by Fat Possum Records in 2005). Produced and directed by Mandy Stein
Mandy Stein (born January 14, 1975) is an American film producer and film director. Her parents are Seymour Stein and Linda S. Stein.
Early life
Stein was born in Manhattan. She graduated from Kent School
Kent School is a private, co-educa ...
. Oxford, Mississippi: Plain Jane Productions, Inc; Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...
.
References
External links
Kenny Brown
at ReverbNation
Kenny Brown page
from Fat Possum Records site
*
*
Extended discography
at CD Universe
CD Universe.com is an e-commerce site that sells music CDs, mp3 downloads, movies, and video games worldwide. CD Universe also offers a wide selection of miscellaneous items such as stuffed animals, jigsaw puzzles, board games, etc.
History
CD ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Kenny
1953 births
Living people
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
People from Nesbit, Mississippi
Fat Possum Records artists
Blues musicians from Mississippi
Musicians from Selma, Alabama
Guitarists from Mississippi
People from Marshall County, Mississippi
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians