Marty Brown
Kentucky - United States
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About the Band
The road between Maceo, Kentucky, and Nashville is a ribbon of family memories and musical accomplishments for Marty Brown. In the early ‘90s, that well-traveled pathway led to a major label record deal, multiple Grand Ole Opry appearances, and an international following that embraced his traditional approach to modern country music.
“Typical thing you hear every day – a country boy comes to Nashville trying to make it. Well, that was me,” Brown says. “I didn’t have a producer, I didn’t have a million-dollar backer, I didn’t have anything. I had a lot of raw talent and drive from what God gave me. And I remember I did it the hard way, I really did. I didn’t know any other way to do it.”
At the end of the ‘90s, Brown essentially walked away from performing to spend time with his family and work on his songwriting. After spending more than a decade off the radar, he’s returned with American Highway, his first album for Plowboy Records. Brown’s country baritone has retained its versatility, while the new material stretches from good-time tunes and party anthems to heartbreak songs and country blues ballads. Brown co-wrote and co-produced the album with Jon Tiven.
Music is woven throughout Brown’s family history. His mother and father grew up in rural Kentucky, in small, rustic houses separated by a tobacco field. When she practiced guitar on her front porch, he would sneak into the field to listen. Finally she invited him up to teach him a few chords, which led to a fascination with the instrument – and with the young woman playing it.
“We didn’t have a lot of money to buy records, so I heard my mama singing Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn, or my daddy singing Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. I heard their versions of it and they were good. They’re still good!” Brown says. “I tell everybody I get my drive to make it from my daddy, and I get my heart and my personality from my mama, and my love of talking. You get those two in a room together and it’s wonderful.”
Growing up, Brown cut tobacco and bagged groceries by day, then entered talent contests and sang in honky-tonks around Kentucky at night and on weekends. He picked up his first paying gig at age 16, performing at a barbecue festival in Owensboro, Kentucky. With a natural ear for music, he learned to play acoustic and electric guitar, piano, drums and bass guitar. After getting laid off from a plumbing company, the resourceful 24-year-old quickly lined up a local honky-tonk gig so he could pass the hat, raising enough money for yet another attempt at making it in Nashville.
Without money for a hotel room in the city, Brown slept in an alley on Music Row. The next morning, he walked into BMI carrying his guitar and asking if he could speak to someone. An executive named Kurt Denny agreed to meet with him; after hearing five songs, Denny offered to set up some meetings the following week. By coincidence, the CBS show 48 Hours was filming in Nashville and made Brown’s humble beginnings a prominent part of their package. Shortly before the episode aired, Brown had signed with MCA Nashville, poised for success. His videos landed in rotation on CMT and he opened shows for the likes of Garth Brooks and Hank Williams Jr.
“I started touring and everything, and I ended up getting a divorce. That’s about all I’ll say about that,” Brown says. “I’m not the best looking guy in the world but I had a lot of success and lights shining on me. I just wanted somebody to love me. That’s one of the down points in my life that I had to go through. That’s when I really found out what hurting songs are all about. That put the pain in my songs. I wrote a lot of hurting songs back then.”
After three albums but no breakout hit, Brown was dropped from the label. Yet he made a name for himself as a songwriter with Tracy Byrd’s 1998 hit, “I’m From the Country,” along with cuts by Trace Adkins and Brooks & Dunn. Though he still traveled to Nashville occasionally to write, Brown opted to spend time with his family in Kentucky and disappear from the public eye. He spent his time fishing, working on cars, and building bird boxes.
His fans remained curious, however, and a new marriage helped set the stage for a second act. After years of encouraging him to get back on the music scene, his wife Shellie Brown booked him to sing in a steakhouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky. When the word got out, his dedicated fans started coming from across the country just to listen. Then Shellie surprised him by taking him into Nashville for an audition of America’s Got Talent in 2013. His touching performance of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” went viral, generating over 11 million views on YouTube.
Though he admits he was nervous to be back on stage, the overwhelming response convinced him to reactivate his performing career. He’s since performed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, returned to the Grand Ole Opry, and signed autographs at CMA Music Festival, where new and old fans alike greeted him with familiarity, as though no time has passed. American Highway once again establishes this proud Kentucky native as a country artist with something to say.
“From the time I turned 16 and I got my driver’s license, until I was 24, I always dreamed it,” Brown says. “I believed in God and I believed it could happen. And it did. I’m one of the fortunate ones. I think I didn’t want to turn 60 years old and have a drawer full of songs and wonder, ‘What if I’d only tried?’ Thank God that didn’t happen to me.”
Discography
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American HighwayLabel: Plowboy Genres: Country Styles: Americana Country, Country Songs on the Album
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