A Night with Junior Brown

The Mercury Lounge, Crown Entertainment Complex
Melbourne Australia
Tuesday  25  April  2000

Junior Brown's in town.

In a word Fantastic!

Junior Browns first tour of Australia was in 1999, sometime around March/April.

I was keen to see if his show this time round was as exhilarating and entertaining as the year before, the year in which Australian crowds first got to see this affable, approachable guy from (then) Austin Texas - (Junior now resides in Tulsa Oklahoma). 

At about 10:30pm Junior Brown, sporting beard and moustache,  and band, Tanya Rae Brown, rhythm guitar, Steve Layne, double bass and drummer Pete Amaral strode upon the stage at the Mercury Lounge.

After the usual "hellos" from the crowd and Junior, the thing started.

Junior Brown concerts are much more than music. The experience includes watching this guy do things to his guit-steel, (a self designed combination of a Fender and Steel Guitar) that are quite incredible, trying to follow him as he almost transparently drifts from one classic guitar riff into another and enjoying the humour in his songs.

The first track played, was 'Broke Down South of Dallas'.  This made the crowd push forward and smiles began to appear on faces. By the end, many people were now sure they were in the right place to see the right stuff.

Junior played a good mix of favourites from all his CD's. These included, Long Walk Back to San Antone, My Wife thinks You're Dead, I Hung it Up, Venom Wearin' Denim, Highway Patrol, Freedom Machine, Gotta Get Up Every Morning and many others.

Junior also played some new tracks of a forthcoming CD. Of the new tracks, one was called Cell Phone, another Running with the Wind, another, Cagey Bea. 

About half way through the performance, Tanya Rae Brown, Juniors' wife, was introduced to the audience and played a track off her debut CD (titled Meet the Mrs) called Gad About. 

I had heard Tanya Rae sing last year and my immediate response was, "what a voice, I have to get a copy of her CD". When I heard her sing last night, my immediate response was, "I still have to get a copy of her CD" - (yep, you're right, I never got around to getting a copy).  

Tanya Rae has one of the best (traditional) female country voices I've heard in a very long time.  I recommend you give her CD a listen if possible.

One of the lighter more humorous moments in the evening, was during one of Juniors 'fills' when he switches from one well known guitar riff to another to another. At one point, he played out a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a mid 1970's film about aliens landing on earth. In this particular scene, we earthlings are communicating with the aliens by playing certain notes on synthesizer. The aliens are then trying to reply but, not with the same notes.  If you know the film, you'll know what I'm talking about.  

It was all very funny stuff.

Juniors band keep on chugging away in the background just like a reliable V8, which allows Junior to do just about anything he wants to, which always seems to thoroughly entertain the audience.

By the end of the show, Junior Brown and band played about 21 songs and were on stage for approximately 2 hours.

At the end of the night, I had the chance to throw a few questions at Junior and see what his replies were....

MW - This is your second time in Australia, are you having a good time?

JB - Yes, very much. Everyone here is so nice, and Australia is a beautiful place.

MW - How did your shows at the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Music Festival go?

JB - Very well. We all had a great time. It rained a bit, but every one coped with that OK. We were very happy with how it all went.

MW - When Willie Nelson was in Australia, he and his band couldn't get over how quiet the audiences were all the time. How are you finding Australian audiences in comparison to say the audiences you get in Texas?

JB - They're about the same as anywhere else. They're not especially quiet. I think they would give any Texas audience a run for their money.

MW - You have a new CD coming out. Have you decided on a title for it yet?

JB - No we haven't, we're still thinking about that.

MW - How is Tanya Raes CD selling?, is she happy with its' sales?

JB - It's selling not too bad. She is happy with the way it is selling.

MW - Does she have any plans of doing another CD in the near future?

JB - No, not right at the moment.

MW - How is all your acting going?, the episode of the X Files you were on aired here last week. Do you have any new roles coming up?

JB - I had a role in a movie, but the movie fell through. I enjoy acting but it's hard going between acting and song writing. You need to concentrate on one or the other. At the moment I am concentrating on song writing. I am writing songs for the new CD at the moment, so I'm not looking at acting parts.

MW - You fly north to Sydney for two shows there. Do you think you are more popular in Sydney than Melbourne?

JB - I don't know. It's hard to tell.  The reaction we get is about the same in both places.

MW - You're appearing on the ABC's Studio 22 this Thursday (4/27). Are you looking forward to that?

JB - Yeah, it should be fun, they want me to play a long set, maybe 30 - 45 minutes.

MW - From what you've said and from the reaction you got tonight, do you think you'll be back next year?

JB - I don't know. They seem to really like us though, so who knows?

At the end of the show all of the estimated, 1000 patrons, left smiling. It was the end of another great show by a great Texas guitarist, songwriter performer and entertainer.

I'll never be able to Watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind the same way again.

Matt Western
The Lone Star in the Southern Cross
Texas Music Guide (Australia)
April 25 2000

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