Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"Well, much like the devil and whoever shot the Kennedys, Greg Brown is you and me, man. This lonesome, husky voiced son-of-a-gun from the dusty roads and chicken wire juke joints of Stamford, Connecticut (well okay, forget that part), plays honest, rootsy rock 'n' roll in the same earnest, shamelessly unhip way as John Cougar, George Thorogood, and Bryan Adams did before him, with pop hooks, shitkicker grit, a little bloozy slide guitar, and a whole buncha hard luck stories that start with drinkin' and end the same way. Greg is so freakin' REAL that he's got a song here called "Redneck Love," and it's not even ironic, man. All these white trash wannabes in town playing their phony belt buckle rock oughta take a lesson from GB, cuz this is the way authentic beer swilling, tax-paying, eagle-daring American rock 'n' roll really sounds. At least the kind that comes from Connecticut. American Knight may strike some as aggressively commercial, but it's a "1986-and-the- Fabulous-Thunderbirds-are-huge" kinda commercial, which makes it almost underground in today's hipster-creep climate. Bring it along next time you BBQ with Uncle Jack, and maybe he'll finally stop calling you a wimp all the time."
- The Noise: Rock Around Boston
"American Knight is solid rockin' stuff with blues underpinnings and a clear Springsteenish sense of American music. This CD is built on the guitar, drums and bass concept, and includes some tasty BG vocals too. The guitar drones and wails, but never overcomes the fine songcraft that is at work on this record. Greg is a young talent from the stables of Riff Rat Records, and is certain to please fans of edgy, rockin' Neo-Americana and blues with a bit of a bite. The axe and rhythm section work hard here, while Greg Brown's voice seems to perfectly salt the proceedings. We like his earnest approach and his delivery, which never runs the risk of being overly polite."
- CD Baby
"Good dose of 'heavy-rockin'-blues' from this new genius of electric guitar who follows the path of artists like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Greg Brown’s personal mark is a mixture of different styles – from Queen to Bruce Springsteen ... A powerful record with terrific, flaming Greg Brown virtuoso guitar solos always backed by a wild, hot band." - La Hora Del Blues Radio PICA
”What the world needs now is some more Greg Brown on the radio, the charts and in the clubs. [His] American Knight is a 10-song, no-compromise collection of what rock and roll has been and what it should be. … But, unlike efforts being created for sale, this effort draws on the essence of rock and roll to make it work. And – like Springsteen – Brown means every word he writes and sings and, as Graham Parker once said, ‘Passion is no ordinary word.’ Which, on American Knight, sets Brown apart from the mediocre masses. … Debuts like this are what separate the men from the boys and Brown, along with his hot band, has what it takes to make it happen. What the world needs now is some American Knight on the airwaves.” - Michael Baugh, Free Times, Columbia, SC
Discography
American Knight, released on Riff Rat Records.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
If Greg Brown came up behind you, tapped you on the shoulder and asked for your bar seat, you’d get right up and vacate the premises. This is the same Greg Brown who will later wax romantic and sound like that Shakespeare guy: "When the golden sun comes alive/Kiss your skin like the morning dew ..."
Contradiction? No, paradox.
Greg Brown hails from Stamford, Connecticut, but his college degree and middle-class trappings mislead: the hat, the beard, the boots – he actually looks like he just came in from the Old West. He paid his first dues at home, the fate of many axmen, blaring basement guitar boiling his father’s brain. Banished to the back porch, Brown, undeterred, set up his speakers and did what you do when rock 'n' roll is played – turned it up: loud He didn’t care what the neighbors thought. Over the years, a few blocks away, a seasoned musician named Ratso sat on his front porch and heard that guitar wail. Came the day Brown went to the phonebook and found a recording studio a few blocks away. The owner also happened to be a record producer. His name? – Ratso. "Hey, are you the guy who ...?" The result: Brown’s soulful debut of hard rock originals, American Knight, released on Riff Rat Records.
Greg Brown’s live sets are furious. Nonstop. As if he had a train to catch. One song after another with little space in-between, few spoken words. Afterwards, asked how he came to play guitar, he’s waxing again: "The electricity of the amplification tore off my soul the soggy wool coat that had weighed me down all these years."
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