All-American Cowboy Archives

In a recent review of the “lost” CD from Marty Brown, American Son, I mentioned that other new music was available from Brown. During the past several weeks, I have had these new CDs in constant play so that I am finally able to write about these three outstanding CDs that are available directly from the singer-songwriter.

Marty Brown was an up-and-coming country music writer and performer in the 1990s but his fourth and most recent major record label CD, Here’s to the Honky Tonks, was released way back in 1996. Since then, many have wondered if Brown was still making music. American Son, which was recorded in 2002 and recently made available by Brown, gave some hint of his continuing work. But three new CDs that Brown is selling at his Kentucky performances reveal something surprising: Despite Music Row’s rejection, not only is he continuing to write and record a large amount of high-quality classic county songs, he is continuing to develop as an outstanding artist.

The three recent CDs are: Marty Brown: Exclusive, Marty Brown: All-American Cowboy, and Marty Brown Christmas. Like American Son, they are packaged and sold by Brown and his wife, Shellie, so they are not in any fancy packaging, but the recording is generally of high quality.

Marty Brown: Exclusive (2012) features twelve songs written and recorded by Marty Brown. The album opens with “Good Times,” an upbeat song that could open a set when he plays at local establishments. I am not sure another artist could work the phrase “chips and salsa” into a song so well. “Borderline Fool,” with its Mexican music flair, reminds me a little of George Strait’s “Seashores of Old Mexico,” and one could imagine Strait singing this song too. The CD includes upbeat songs and ballads, as well as the waltz “Horseshoes and Halos.” Highlights on the CD include the love song, “Absolute Love of My Life” and an anthem about being alive called “That’s My Kind of Sky.” Brown wrote several of the songs on this CD with the idea that another country artist would record those songs. But as of now, this CD is the only place to get the twelve songs, and I cannot imagine anyone else singing them better anyway.

All-American Cowboy (2012) features nine original songs recorded by Marty Brown in Nashville. Although I recommend all three of these albums as well as American Son, if you were to only buy only one of these new CDs, this one might be the place to start. Every single song is fantastic, and while it contains two songs that also appear on American Son (“The Devil Was an Angel Too” and “Leavin’ Side of Me”), those are two of my favorites from that CD so they fit nicely with the other strong songs on All-American Cowboy. Every song is a highlight on this CD with songs like “Live Every Day Like Sunday,” “Love Can’t Live in a Honky Tonk” and the others having some of the best melodies in the Marty Brown catalog. If you were wondering what Marty Brown has done since the 1990s, buy this one now.

Marty Brown Christmas (2012), with nine additional originals, is the hidden rough gem among the new CDs. While labeled as a “Christmas” CD that was given to friends and family, three or four of the songs might be classified as “Christmas songs,” while the rest might more generally be labeled “Christian” songs. But something about writing outside his traditional secular country songs freed Brown to do some of his most innovative work on this album. The CD’s rough take on Brown singing “There’s No Room for the Holidays in My Heart” is in the tradition of sad holiday songs that deserves a place with other holiday classics. Although the recording quality of that beautiful song is not as polished as songs on the other CDs, Brown’s quiet singing with just his guitar reveals another side of his singing skills.

The freedom of writing a for a new category of music on Marty Brown Christmas also allows Brown to go in other directions besides quiet singer-songwriter. A song about Jesus’ crucifixion, “I Know the One Who Carried It,” shows that Marty Brown can be a rocker, and it makes me want to hear Brown sing more rock and roll songs. Meanwhile, Brown’s moving “Last Supper,” about a man on death row awaiting his last meal (“I couldn’t come to his Last Supper / But Jesus and momma are going to come to mine”) and “Washed My Hands in Muddy Waters” show that Brown can sing the blues too. Brown shines on these songs, and “Last Supper” features one of Brown’s most moving and powerful vocal performances ever. Despite the rough edges on this CD, or maybe because of them, on Marty Brown Christmas Brown approaches something wonderful that transcends musical boundaries, making me excited to hear what he does next.

Conclusion? These three new CDs from Marty Brown are worth tracking down. If you do not live in Kentucky where you can make it to one of his shows, you may do like I did and order these CDs by emailing Shellie Brown at ilikeitthatwaymusic@yahoo.com for more details about the price and mailing address. (FYI, I have no affiliation with the sales of the new CDs and am providing the ordering information as a service to other fans like me.) You may find updates on upcoming shows on Marty Brown’s Facebook page and in the comments to our previous post on Marty Brown’s career. In the most recent news, Brown will be performing tonight at Wah Bah! Steakhouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

What is your favorite Marty Brown CD? Leave your two cents in the comments.

A Lost CD of Marty Brown: “American Son” (Review)

Marty Brown Sings “There’s a Honky Tonk in Heaven”

Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Opens Exhibit on Marty Brown

Tune In For a Live Marty Brown Concert Online

“Boomtown”: The Debut Album from Maceo

New Video from Marty Brown: “It’s a God Thing”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Last April in “The Great Lost Career of Marty Brown,” I bemoaned the fact that country singer Marty Brown had not had a major label CD release since 1998, and I imagined how one day Brown would be rediscovered with a pile of songs he had been writing and recording for more than a decade. While I still wait for Brown to recapture the fame he deserves, the many responses to that post revealed that many people still love his music. Fortunately, Brown continues to perform at local venues and continues to write new songs at a healthy rate. He recently even put out a new homemade music video. And back in 2002, Brown put together a collection of songs on an album called American Son as a comeback of sorts, but it was never released. I recently discovered that Marty Brown and his wife Shellie Brown were making that CD available for the first time, so I ordered one immediately. I was not disappointed.

American Son is a collection of the type of songs fans might expect from Brown, as he sings about love (i.e., “Love Happens,” “Make My Heart Your Home,” “Where’d You Come From?”), country fun (“Work Hard Havin’ Fun,” “Crackerjack”), and perhaps influenced by the time the album was recorded not long after 9/11, a couple of patriotic songs, including the title song and the still relevant “P.O.W.’s at the V.F.W.”

Many of my favorite Marty Brown originals are his heartbreak songs, and that is true for American Son too. Brown always has had a great talent for turning a clever phrase and when he combines that writing skill with his great classic country twang, he cannot be matched by anyone recording today. His heartbreak songs on this album include “Friends,” where the singer tells a love that he cannot “just” be friends, and “The Devil Was an Angel Too.” The latter song has a refrain from the apologizing man that seems so clever I wonder why nobody else has thought of it. I also wonder why nobody else has covered the outstanding song.

I have had the CD on repeat play for the last two weeks, and today my favorite song on the CD is “Leavin’ Side of Me.” The title tells you what it is about, but when you hear Brown’s voice say, “And I think it’s time you saw/ The leavin’ side of me,” the vulnerability and pain breaks your heart like what you hear in the great songs of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, and Otis Redding.

Because the album was not an official release, there is no fancy CD packaging, but Brown will autograph the CD for you for free. More importantly, it is the music you want, and they did not skimp on the recording. The quality of the sound, the musicians, and Brown’s voice, are all top notch.

Conclusion? If you are not familiar with Marty Brown’s work, you may want to check out some of his other music first, but if you are a fan, American Son is another excellent CD to add to your collection (or a great holiday gift for someone who likes genuine country music). You may order American Son by emailing Shellie Brown at ilikeitthatwaymusic@yahoo.com for more details. They also have other new music from Marty Brown, including Marty Brown: All American Cowboy, Marty Brown Exclusive, and a Christmas CD. (FYI, I have no affiliation with the sales of the new CDs and am providing the ordering information as a service to other fans like me.) You may find updates on upcoming shows on Marty Brown’s Facebook page and in the comments to our previous post on Marty Brown’s career.