Poor J. Brown

You always hear about these hard working “blue-collar bands”, the full-time musicians that paid their dues or hit the road for decades before they had any commercial success. Poor J. Brown is not one of those bands. Poor J. Brown is a band full of guys that might live next door to you. Guys with kids, “regular” jobs, and lives. It’s a chore just scheduling a practice for a band where 5 of the 6 members have kids and full time jobs. And somehow these guys get together as much as they can to make incredible music. That’s the whole point. Poor J. Brown’s sound is a whole lot of sacrifice, joy, pain, and laughter coming together in musical form. It's rooted in the front porch soul of East Texas and Southern Louisiana but it's also the back porch roots music of the Texas Hill Country and the blues of New York and Chicago. Somehow all of these influences come together to create a sound that is strikingly original yet familiar. Leon Waddy writes the majority of the songs but David Fenley sings them like they were his autobiography. His voice has soul, character, and more gravel than the back roads of Texas. Matt Morgan and Tim Germadnik are what front porch family music is all about. The musical offspring of their parents, who played in the same family jug band for over 25 years, they're keeping their family traditions alive. Kevin Cooley provides the rhythmic foundation, and Clete Ritta adds the icing from pedal steel, to mandolin, to lead guitar. Poor J. Brown is not just Americana music. It’s American music. They call it “Hill Country Soul” but one hears blues, funk, country, soul, rap and reggae all blended in different combinations throughout their music. You’ll hear the influences but even more than that you’ll hear what happens when great songwriting comes together with great musicianship. Poor J. Brown is all about these combinations. Great guys and great music…the end result being one hell of a great time.