Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Brown.
Hi Dustin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started writing songs when I was around 12 or 13. Before that, I ran around the house with an out-of-tune mini-Guild guitar pressed against my shirtless belly and fore am with a penny as a pick. 6- or 7-year-old imitating Clint Eastwood and Elvis… I’m sure it was a site to be seen. Those first few songs were written with a melody in my mind until I finally was gifted an acoustic guitar and given a few beginner lessons.
By the time I reached high school, I had formed a band, “Gravel Road.” We called it haha… think the name came from the idea that we could steal one of those Road signs that warned of a gravel road. We never did steal that sign or make it. My best friend and bass player left for the army, and I began my songwriter days.
Those few years after high school I strived, foolishly, to be like all my heroes at the time. Doing everything I could to legitimize myself as a gritty songwriter. Lots of drinking and lots of trouble. During those times, I would play the open mic at now famed “Papa Joe’s” in Waco, where just a few years earlier, Billy Joe Shaver killed a man. I would also play the biker bars in Waco like “Smoking Ray’s” then turned into “Sambos.” I was living pretty hard and fast for someone not even old enough to legally buy a drink. After a series of events that led to me being ran over by a car, I straightened up and went to trade school for underwater welding in 2013.
I spent 5 years offshore mostly doing underwater construction and salvage, before moving back to Texas from Louisiana. Back home, I started to play again more frequently, and folks responded. By 2020 I was playing 3-4 times a week and had a new bad forming behind me. As most low-level musicians 2020 did a number, but we persevered and have made it through with a totally different cast of players and better for it.
I also founded a music festival in that time. On our fourth year, we have grown it from a joke made in someone’s backyard to a full-fledged music festival. With Grady Spencer and The Work, John Fullbright and The Droptines headlining October 2023 along with 50 other upcoming singer-songwriters and bands.
These days, I’m focusing on recording and taking quality gigs opposed to grinding it out in the bars as we have done for years. With live music payments still low from 2020, lack of interest, and the devaluing of local music, we have decided to put our energy into the music and marketing to a large audience. I, too, have started recording my slowcore side project, “Bluecut The Deeper,” that will feature elements of Folk, Songwriter, Electric Guitar, and synthetic instruments.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Making a living is the age-old one. Finding your lane.
Bandmates stepping down.
Choosing music over relationships.
2020..
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My finger-picking slap strum and songwriting are probably my most notable attributes. People compliment my voice as being different, but I’ve decided that’s a nice way of saying it’s awful haha
What was your favorite childhood memory?
In the summers, my dad would drop me off at my older sisters’ house on his way to work early in the morning before the sun. Like 5 a.m. or so… really early for a kid on summer break. We’d both grunt and grown getting up and into the pickup. I can still smell the humidity, coffee, and tobacco. As his morning concoction would perk him up, he’d blast “Johnny Horton” or “Jonny Cash” on casset through the factory door speakers. Tapping the dash in time to the song singing way out of key (just to annoy me, I think), but eventually, I’d come around and sing with him.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dustinbrownsongs.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dustinbrownsongs?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dustbromusico?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@dustinbrownsongs?si=Kp87Y_EKyn9F9rox
Image Credits
Jaclyn Sky
Neon Jack Rabbit
