One of the many bad side-effects of the current pandemic is its impact on performing artists. As many artists have tried to adjust to the streaming music era by earning a living doing live shows, now the coronavirus has taken away their main way to reach fans. So, many artists, like Marty Brown, have turned to reaching their fans online.
Country music singer-songwriter Marty Brown is using the platform StageIt.com to give a show to his fans on Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 9 pm EST (8 pm CT; 6pm PDT). For much less than a regular concert ($5), you get direct access to a live show. The platform also allows fans to interact through real-time written comments.
Marty Brown has been writing great songs and making great music for decades. His live shows feature a range of music from a likable engaging performer. Hopefully, he’ll play “Whatever Makes You Smile,” one of his first releases after his successful run on the television show America’s Got Talent that began with an amazing audition singing Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.” And fans may get some great songs like “Mona Lisa Smiles” from his most recent outstanding album, American Highway (2019). Brown is also known for “I’m From the Country,” a song he wrote that was a hit for Tracy Byrd.
We hope he also will dig into his back catalog from the 1990s, which includes songs like “Every Now and Then,” “Wild Kentucky Skies” and “The Day the Bootlegger Died.”
Whatever he plays, it is bound to be a great show, taking advantage of technology to reach fans in these troubled times. So head over to StageIt for your Marty Brown tickets — and to check out and support other artists with online shows!
Many years ago, we noted that country singer Marty Brown had apparently shared his wonderful musical talents with his children. So we are delighted to hear that his son Marty Brown Jr. is finally releasing his first album with his band Maceo, entitled Boomtown. And it was worth the wait.
Old Legends
The younger Brown has been performing music, honing his musical chops, and writing songs with his father for years. And the band Maceo, with an outstanding group of musicians, finds some of its influences in Southern Rock and Outlaw Country. Some of the tracks on the album may remind one of Shooter Jennings, another son of a country legend.
The album rocks but it also features intelligent lyrics steeped in county traditions. In a nod to the past, on the song “Old Legends,” Brown proclaims, “Old legends never die, they just keep on living on.”
Boomtown
Yet, even with the album’s connections to the past, Maceo brings a young person’s perspective, guitars, and wisdom that makes everything new again. It’s honest young country that should find a place in today’s country music world. In the title track from the album, “Boomtown,” Brown takes a look at his “one-horse town” that “ain’t no Boomtown.” But he still finds a lot to love there.
For those of us who grew up in a small town, we hear a realistic reflection of a non-idealized life that is still loved. So the singer’s repeated assertion that “this ain’t no Boomtown,” backed by a tight electric band with a solid beat, ends up as more of a boast than a lament.
Another highlight of the album is “Lessons in Lonely,” a catchy country weeper that sounds like an instant classic. Not surprisingly, the beautiful song was co-written by Marty Brown Jr.’s father Marty Brown, along with Charles Victor.
The band Maceo is named after Brown’s hometown of Maceo, Kentucky. And the group features Marty Brown Jr. (Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar), Collin Sagely (Percussion), Brian Haunhorst (Rythym Guitar, Backing Vocals), and Chris Dillard (Bass).
Boomtown is an uplifting album, perfect for blasting on your car stereo while driving country roads. Or just sitting in a lonely room with headphones and letting Brown and his bandmates take you on a fun ride. It’s all good.
Marty Brown, who earlier this year released the album American Highway, has released a new song called “It’s a God Thing” and a video to go with it. As for now, Brown plans for this video to be his final official music video.
Brown, who has made around twenty music videos during his career, explains that he is not retiring from music. He is still writing and performing. But he feels so strongly about “It’s a God Thing” and its video that he would like it to be his final video. As he explains on Facebook, he “just wants to go out on top with his new song.” He also reports that he has worked harder on this video than he has for any other video.
The song is a beautiful statement of faith. So it is easy to see how it has significant meaning for Brown, who chose to do a video for this new song instead of for one of the other songs on his recent outstanding album American Highway.
Brown co-wrote “It’s a God Thing” with Keith Stegall and Brian Maher. The video, which also features Brown’s wife Shellie Brown and a photo of his mother, was filmed around Franklin, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, and Owensboro, Kentucky.
We are glad that Brown is not retiring from recording music, but we also hope that at some point he reconsiders making more videos. For now, though, check out “It’s a God Thing.”
When I bought Marty Brown’s fourth album Here’s to the Honky Tonks when it was released in 1996, little did I know I would have to wait more than twenty years for a new official release from a record company. Since I lamented his disappearance from the national music scene on Chimesfreedom in a 2011 article, Brown has returned to the national scene in a number of ways, including a successful run on America’s Got Talent in 2013. And now, after the release of some outstanding independent releases in the last several years, he has a wonderful new full album, American Highway (2019). The album features a range of music styles and includes several immediate classics.
The album, released by Plowboy Records, features ten songs Brown co-wrote with Jon Tiven (including one with Marty Brown Jr.). Tiven also co-produced the album. Although Brown is probably best known for traditional country songs, here he shows off his vocal and songwriting strengths with a range of styles. While his voice always adds a country touch, on this album Brown croons, he rocks, he inspires, he breaks your heart, he shakes, he gets the blues, and he shows he knows his way around a catchy pop song.
Marty Brown Rocks
The album includes tracks that are perfect for a live show. One may imagine Brown closing a performance with a couple of the rockers, which include “I’m On a Roll (Better Than It’s Ever Been),” “Shaking All Over the World,” and “Right Out of Left Field.” The latter song even ends with Brown saying, “Don’t forget to turn out the lights” over a driving guitar, leading one to imagine him walking offstage. Throw in “When the Blues Come Around” as an encore, and you can practically see the lighters and cell phone lights swaying in the crowd.
These are all solid songs. “Shaking All Over the World” and its “Na-na-na na’s” sounds like it could have been on a Bruce Springsteen album. “I’m On a Roll,” co-written with Tiven and Marty Brown Jr., further shows Brown’s songwriting skills run in the family.
The talking blues “Casino Winebego” tells a fun story with a great groove. The first single, “Umbrella Lovers,” is a sweet love song inspired by when Brown got caught in the rain with his wife Shellie while they were in New York City.
The opening title track “American Highway” aims to be an anthem with a catchy chorus. One reviewer, who loves the album, has complained that this song’s cliches and flag-waving are “lazy.” Inspired by the highway near where Brown lives, a song with “America” in its title in 2019 creates certain expectations. So I can see a fan wishing that this song included additional verses to encompass a broader portrait of the country. But I still find myself singing along.
Three Instant Classics
“Kentucky Blues” is an immediate country classic. It is a beautiful song about heartbreak: “My baby’s gone and I’m all alone / I’ve got those Kentucky blues.” Select this one on the jukebox and it would make George Jones cry in his beer (as well as want to record the song). Perfect.
The album ends with two songs with great pop-country hooks that show off Brown’s talented singing voice at its best. “Velvet Chains” is a beautiful lament of one leaving his lover behind.
Brown’s songwriting often justifies comparisons to another talented songwriter who knew his way around a catchy hook, John Denver. Here, one may see Denver’s influence on the thematic elements of “Velvet Chains,” inviting comparisons to Denver’s “Leaving On a Jet Plane” (and perhaps some connection in the title to Denver’s “I’d Rather Be a Cowboy (Lady’s Chains)”).
And then there is “Mona Lisa Smiles.” After repeated listening of the album, I have fallen for this song.
“Mona Lisa Smiles” is a beautiful song about changing times, mortality, and the persistence of art. Recounting the temporary nature of our lives and everything in it, the singer reminds us, “Still, through it all/ From her frame on the wall/ Mona Lisa Smiles.”
When the strings back up Brown’s powerful voice, you know that like Mona Lisa, he is a survivor. Black Francis (former frontman of the Pixies and who many years ago recorded a fantastic duet with Brown) also provides backing vocals. This one is a fantastic song and recording.
Marty Brown Perseveres
Overall, American Highway is a great return to form and a worthwhile addition to Brown’s other classic albums. If I had one complaint, it would be that the album only has ten songs, especially considering Brown has many great songs that have yet to appear on an album. Among that group, he has a number of songs I consider to be among the greatest country songs of the last thirty years, including “Leaving Side of Me,” “The Devil Was an Angel Too,” and “My Love Will Follow You.” Another great song, “Whatever Makes You Smile,” did appear on Brown’s excellent privately released album, Country Strong in 2013.
That is a small quibble, and I realize that there may be legal rights issues to these unreleased songs. But I want more, and I want the world to hear more. The more Marty Brown music in the world, the better.
The music industry has changed drastically since Brown’s 1990s albums. When Brown last released an album through a record label, you could easily go to a record store and buy the CD. And many artists could make a living selling records. Neither is true today.
In today’s streaming and digital world, albums play a different role in an artist’s career. But we are lucky that Brown survived to provide his fans with another outstanding album and that he continues to perform.
His art lives on. And Marty Brown makes us smile.
What do you think of American Highway? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Marty Brown is releasing his first new official album from a label since 1996 with American Highway. As regular readers know, since we first lamented Brown’s disappearance from recording and then followed his musical resurgence after performances on America’s got Talent, we have been hoping and anticipating a new album. Now our dreams are coming true with a taste from the new Marty Brown album, the catchy song “Umbrella Lovers.”
Plowboy Records is releasing American Highway, which features ten songs Brown co-wrote with Jon Tiven (including one with Marty Brown Jr.). Tiven also co-produced the album. According to promotional materials, the new album’s sound embraces a range of country music — “Gospel to Blues to traditional Country, Rockabilly and beyond.”
Beyond his own music, Tiven has worked with a number of great artists, including Wilson Pickett. And he produced and played instruments on Frank Black’s 2006 album, Fast Man, Raider Man. That album featured a wonderful duet between Black and Marty Brown on “Dirty Old Town.”
The first song release, “Umbrella Lovers,” features Brown with an electric guitar groove in the background. The song grows on you with repeated listenings, and Brown’s voice is in fine form and out front where it should be. Check it out.
I cannot wait to hear the other songs on the album. They feature titles like “I’m On A Roll (Better Than It’s Ever Been),” “Casino Winnebago,” “Mona Lisa Smiles,” “Kentucky Blues,” and “Shaking All Over The World.” Perhaps what I am most excited about is that Tiven and the producers seem to understand that Brown is a great country singer who should not be pigeonholed into one narrow genre. American Highway is scheduled to be released on May 17, 2019.
