Brian Futch

Hearing Brian’s music evokes his youth…spent in a small town on the east coast of Florida where the warm Sunday mornings were spent listening to his mother play the piano for the church congregation. It was this gospel, echoing off the worn, wooden pews that would serve as the bedrock of his future in music….
By age 15, Brian had decided that merely listening to the music of others was not enough, and he answered that call one Christmas morning when he received his first guitar. He taught himself to play by listening to the popular rock music of the time, as well as paying homage to such great blues artists as Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
The second call that Brian answered was that of serving his country, and in 1986 he enlisted in the United State Army. He served 7 years on active duty, rising from the enlisted ranks to that of a commissioned officer. Even during the rigors of active service, Brian continued to write and play at every opportunity, often mentoring fellow soldiers in the crafts of musicianship and songwriting.
Upon his honorable discharge, Brian moved his growing family to Memphis, TN, where his writing skills were soon recognized by the Memphis Songwriters Association with numerous awards for “Songwriters Showcase”, “Song of the Year” (awarded twice!), and appointment as the Vice President of the organization in 1995. In 1996, he signed a staff writing deal with Split Publishing in Nashville where he wrote with and alongside such songwriting notables Marty Haggard, Jeff Pearson (Hank Williams Jr., Oak Ridge Boys, Barbara Mandrell), and Earl Bud Lee (“Friends in Low Places”). Over the next ten years, he performed numerous times at the Blue Bird Café on Sunday’s “Writer’s Nights” and Thursday’s “In the Round” series.
When Split publishing closed its doors later that year, Brian accepted employment opportunities outside of music and relocated his family to Tupelo, MS, where he continued to write and perform at various venues and festivals in North Mississippi. Comfortable with all the lessons he learned in Nashville, his songwriting returned to its musical roots of blues and rock, where his searing and passionate guitar solos became an integral part of his sound, and hearken back to the southern musical elements that impacted him so profoundly as a young man.
Brian, his wife Jo Marie, and their five girls moved to Atlanta, GA in 2005, and a few years later he formed his side project “Red Velvet Mojo”, which quickly established itself as a popular club and party band in the North Georgia area. His current artistry is a culmination of all of his musical experience, and he continues to write on an almost daily basis, always looking for inspiration, always finding it, and happily sharing his musical gifts with others. His debut album “And Then There Were Songs…” is set to release by Christmas, 2010.