Friday, Jun. 29, 2012
Brown's album release party celebrates a 'Cowboy Thang'
By Corey Pride / Cpride@losbanosenterprise.com
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ReprintDowntown Los Banos was treated to "a Cowboy Thang," as country and Western singer Terry Brown debuted his album.
Brown wanted the audience to know it was a party.
"If you feel like clapping your hands, stomping your feet, raising a little Cain, that's OK with me," Brown said.
About 40 people gathered at Positive Changes on Sixth Street on June 22 to hear Brown's new music in the album titled "It's a Cowboy Thang." Brown, who spent nearly 30 years in Nashville, has performed shows with some of the biggest names in country music. But, he said, the smaller venues in front of familiar faces are always the toughest.
"It's harder to play in front of friends and neighbors than it is strangers," Brown said.
He said many times family and friends are so intimately familiar with his songs, that it takes more to keep them entertained.
Brown entertained the crowd with stories of the inspirations behind his songs and by showing his video "Friends," which was released earlier this year.
The video features the voice of country artist Aaron Tippin, as well as cameos and voices from Marion Ramsey of "Police Academy" fame, songwriters Tommy Conners and John Bergstrom, Tammy Locke from TV's "The Monroes" and a number of others.
Brown performed music from his 10-song album, including "Long Trail Home," "Hurry Sundown," "Follow Your Heart" and "Life is Just a Crapshoot."
Brown said becoming a performer was born out of fear.
"I didn't know whether I wanted to be a singer or a rodeo rider when I was growing up," he said. "I found out I had back problems and a yellow streak about a foot wide."
Brown also performed "Silver Spur," a song he wrote about a horse. That song won him the Academy of Western Music Song of the Year award in 2000. Los Banos native Hilda Machado, Brown's wife, recalled being at the awards show and telling her husband not to feel bad if he didn't win.
"They said 'Terry Brown, Silver Spur,' and I look at him and he looks at me and I go, 'Oh my God!' " Machado said while mimicking her screams of excitement.
Brown used the album release party to announce that he has been nominated for the Western Music Association Song of the Year for his title track "It's a Cowboy Thang."
Brown said when he moved to Los Banos six years ago, he considered himself retired. He said he got a phone call last year and was asked to shoot a video for a song called "Rockin' Chair Cowboy."
"That kind of lit the fire again," he said. "We started getting phone calls from people who'd seen it on YouTube and they started asking if we wanted to come play their festivals. I said, 'Yeah, we can do that.' "