Kenny Brown Band and other great bands on Druid City Online ... pictures and interviews w/ the best bands in the South

Bluesman Kenny Brown sips a coffee and a whiskey while waiting to play at the Jupiter Bar and Grill

If any band has ever proved that music transcends the boundaries of race and culture, the Kenny Brown Band is it.
In this case, white, black and brown make blues, or as some call it, hill country music. To hear them come together and speak with one voice is a treat to be had. That voice is guided by slide guitar specialist Kenny Brown. Brown and bluesman RL Burnside spread their music across the world as they toured with the Beastie Boys back in the mid 1990s. The Burnside connection continues as RL's grandson, Cedric Burnside, now hits the sticks for Brown. Foot stomping Takeshi Imura, a young blues veteran in his own right, brings up the bottom on bass. This trio has bent more than one ear during their periodic visits to Tuscaloosa. Those who "accidentally" hear them quickly learn what they've been missing. Kenny Brown sat down with Druid City Online as his band prepared to play a show with the North Mississippi All Stars in winter of 2003 at the Jupiter Bar and Grill ...

Druid City Online - Thanks for taking some time with me. Could you please introduce yourself and tell me where you 're from?

My name is Kenny Brown. I grew up in Nesbitt, Mississippi. Nesbitt is about 25 miles south of Memphis. I was actually born in Selma, Alabama at the Air Force Base. But they moved me back to Mississippi when I was about 6 months old. Now I live down in Potts Camp (MS) near Holly Springs. I bought a little land down there and live out in the woods.

Tell me a little about your touring schedule when you have been out there ... the places you've played ...

Oh gosh, when I was working with RL Burnside ... he hasn't really done any gigs in a year ... but before that, we were traveling all over the world and staying out on the road a lot. Lately, we haven't been doing that much. But I've got a new record coming out on Fat Possum Records called Stingray, and we've (the Kenny Brown Band) started out this year pretty good. Staying busy.

Yeah, the last album I did was with Dale Hawkins, and everyone was asking what kind of music it was. And he'd say, "Fuck man, it's American music!"

Who are some of the bands you've seen or played with recently that you've enjoyed?

Well, we've been playing some shows with the North Mississippi All Stars. And we were just up in Chicago and had an opening act up there, a band called Old Number Eight. I think they're coming down this way some time. We opened for Buddy Guy the other night. And if you know Buddy, you know he's pretty good. But I don't go out to see many bands, you know. When we play festivals, I'll check out some of them. I hadn't really been listening to much really. I listen to classical music a lot when I'm riding in my truck or my van.

I live out and the country and deer hunt, fish, ride my horse and work on my place.

Yeah. It's nice. I live about four miles to the nearest beer store, and I have thirty acres with my house right in the middle. It's on a gravel road, so there's not much traffic ... no trains or planes or buses or anything. It's just real peaceful.

Well, I don't know if that really comes through. Most songs are about whiskey and women ... or Jesus and Christmas! (laughs) I guess that pretty much covers everything. But I think most of my songs are about whiskey and women, or everyday things that happen to you. Usually about women though.

Talk a little more about about your new album. How long did it take to record?

It took a long time. It evolved. I started on it three years ago and just kept getting sidetracked. And it started out one way, and then went another.

Oh well, I was working on my place out in the country, and then traveling and playing. I guess that's how it got sidetracked. But it came when it needed to. It's got different styles of stuff. Some acoustic sounding stuff, and some really electric stuff and little bit of remix on it. Some of it is with my band. Some of it has some keyboards. I think one song even has a tuba on it. I think people will like it. Everyone who has heard it, likes it. Hopefully, it'll do good.

Yeah, they are. Cedric Burnside has been playing with me since he was 14, so that's about 10 years. He's RL's grandson. His father played on the first album I played on with RL, which was "Too Bad Jim". We recorded that in '93. We started in '94 touring (for that album), but Cedric's dad had moved to Europe, so we got Cedric to start playing with us. So Cedric and I had been playing together with RL, and whenever I needed a drummer he'd play with me too. And then we got Takeshi Imura on bass. I met him about three-and-a-half years ago. He was playing with my cousin's band and he backed me up one time. And he's such a good bass player that I asked him to come play with me. So he started playing with me regular. He's been with me about three years.

Not everybody knows who the Kenny Brown Band is. How do you go into a town where people don't know you and turn them on to your music? It's not an easy thing to do.

No it's not. I guess you just play the best you can when you go into a town like that. We're out opening for the All Stars some, and they have a pretty good following around now, so it gets a good crowd. Just play the best you can and hope people like it, and hope they're not to drunk to remember who you are.

There's a lot of them. I like Australia though. There's a festival over there on Byron Bay that's a really great festival. And Europe ... we have real good crowds in Europe. And there's a festival I do a lot in Sweden that I like a lot.

Oh, it's hard to say really. There's so many of them and it just depends on the crowd. This is a great place, the Jupiter. They have good crowds, and it's a nice place. They take care of you good.

(Tuscaloosa) has more pretty women than most cities. Oxford, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, as far as I can think of, have the prettiest women of most towns I've been in in the United States.

I hope to be a lot more comfortable, as far as financially. And have a little better reputation.

I don't see any need to. I'll quit when I die. I'm not going to retire from that, I like it too much. But I may slow down someday.

The Kenny Walker Band featured a strong rhythm section and one of the best slide guitar players in the world
Kenny Brown is one of the best slide guitar players

Cedric and Takeshi are on time

The Kenny Brown Band (... American blues rock from Nesbitt, MS)