This week on A Prairie Home Companion This week, we travel back to May 1999 for a show from the Fitzgerald Theater, with special guest folk singer Greg Brown and country musician Junior Brown. Greg Brown dazzles with original compositions “Build a Little Village” and “Real Good Friends,” and Junior Brown kicks in “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead” and “Rock-a-Hula Baby.” There’s talk about Star Wars, walking, words from Bertha’s Kitty Boutique, Catchup, Fiber-Optic-Guided Golf, plus a few songs from Rich, Pat, and the house band, and of course, we’ll have the latest News from Lake Wobegon. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page. Listen to the Show >>>
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For every show, we will start on Tuesday of each week to promote Saturday’s classic broadcast. But as a primer, we will publish links to teasers, bios, and videos of the week’s musical guests to whet your appetite to tune in for the show. And who knows, we may even pop in for some live commentary and profiles via the Facebook page.
Greg Brown’s mother played electric guitar, his grandfather played banjo, and his father was a Holy Roller preacher in the Hacklebarney section of Iowa, where the Gospel and music are a way of life. Brown’s first professional singing job came at age 18 in New York City, running hootenannies (folksinger get-togethers) at the legendary Gerdes Folk City. After a year, Brown moved west to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where he was a ghostwriter for Buck Ram, founder of the Platters. Tired of the fast-paced life, Brown traveled with a band for a few years, and even quit playing for a while before he moved back to Iowa and began writing songs and playing in Midwestern clubs and coffeehouses. Brown’s songwriting has been lauded by many, and his songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Shawn Colvin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He has also recorded more than a dozen albums, including his 1986 release, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, when he put aside his own songwriting to set poems of William Blake to music. One Big Town, recorded in 1989, earned Brown three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, chart-topping status in AAA and The Gavin Report’s Americana rankings, and Brown’s first Indie Award from NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors). The Poet Game, his 1994 CD, received another Indie award from NAIRD. His critically acclaimed 1996 release, Further In, was a finalist for the same award. Rolling Stone’s four-star review of Further In called Brown “a wickedly sharp observer of the human condition.” More than a dozen albums followed, including 1997’s Slant 6 Mind, which earned Brown his second Grammy nomination. “All Those Things” by Greg Brown >>>
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Junior Brown grew up in the woods outside of Kirksville, Indiana, listening to his neighbor’s country music and his father’s big band and swing 78s, as well as his own rock, pop, and country heroes. He started playing gigs at teen nightclubs in the mid-’60s and gravitated to the life of a musician in the eclectic scene of mid-’70s Austin, Texas, his adopted hometown. He spent a few years playing steel and electric guitar in various bands and on sessions, and decided along the way to work toward being a solo artist. Following this dream, he was inspired to create the guit-steel, an instrument featuring both electric guitar and lap steel guitar necks fused into one instrument. He switches between the two during songs. In 1990, Brown produced his first independent release, 12 Shades of Brown, which is included in Rolling Stone’s listing of “50 Country Albums Every Rock Fan Should Own.” He followed with 1993’s Guit With It. His most recent recording is Deep in the Heart of Me, his 11th studio album. In addition to his own many recordings, he has appeared on the albums of artists like Hank Thompson, Ray Price, Ralph Stanley, and more. He is a three-time Grammy nominee and winner of a Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year. Performing with Brown on this Prairie Home show are: Tanya Brown (rhythm guitar); Steve Layne (bass); and Peter Amaral (drums). “Broke Down South of Dallas by Junior Brown >>>
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Greg Brown has been integral to A Prairie Home Companion and appeared regularly on the show throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Here is an excerpt from A Prairie Home Commonplace Book, which was a scrapbook of PHC history assembled for the 25th Anniversary of the show:
Greg Brown first appeared on the show on May 31, 1980. He was a regular from 1983 to 1985, and wrote his song “Cheapest Kind” to sing on the show.
We traveled Kansas and Missouri spreading the good news
Preacher’s family in our pressed clothes and worn-out polished shoes
Momma fixed us soup beans and served them up by candlelight
She tucked us in and I know
She worried through many a sleepless night
Dad and me would stop by the store when the day as done
Standin’ at the counter he said, “I forgot to get the peaches, son.”
“What kind should I get?” I said to him there where he stood in line
And he answered just like I knew he would,
“Go and get the cheapest kind.”
(Chorus)
But the love, the love, the love
It was not the cheapest kind
It was rich as, rich as, rich as, rich as
Any you could ever find
I see the ghost of my grandfather from time to time
In some big city amongst the people all dressed so fine
He usually has a paper bag clutched real tight
His work clothes are dirty
He don’t look nobody in the eye
Oh he was little, he was wiry and he was lots of fun
He was rocky as roadside dirt back where he came from
And they were raisin’ seven children on a little farm
In not the best of times
The few things that they got from the store
Were always just the cheapest kind
Fancy houses with wealthy people I don’t understand
I always wish I could live holdin’ on to my grandpa’s hand
So he could lead me down that long road somewhere
To that little house where there’s just enough supper
For who’s ever there
My people’s hands and faces they are so dear to me
All I have to do is close my eyes and I see ’em all so near to me
I have to laugh I have to cry
When I think of all the things that have drawn those lines
So many years of making do with the cheapest kind
“The Cheapest Kind” sung by Garrison Keillor >>>
“The Cheapest Kind” sung by Greg Brown >>> | 