b. Anthony Graham Brown, 30 October 1954, Arabi, Georgia, USA. As much a southern R&B singer as a country singer-songwriter, Brown was at school in Athens, Georgia, with members of the B-52’s. He earned extra money singing cover versions in lounge bars, until he saw a television documentary on David Allen Coe, after which he formed Rio Diamond, an ‘outlaw’ band, in 1976. By 1979, he was fronting T. Graham Brown’s Rack Of Spam, a white soul band, singing Otis Redding material. In 1982, he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a demo singer, recording songs for publishers who wanted famous artists to record their copyrighted material. A song he demoed as ‘1962’ was later recorded by Randy Travis as ‘1982’, but more lucrative was the use of his voice on jingles for products such as Budweiser beer and McDonalds hamburgers.
Signed to the major label Capitol Records in 1985, the artist was known as T. Graham Brown to avoid confusion with the noted Nashville producer Tony Brown. His first album I Tell It Like It Used To Be included the US country number 1 single ‘Hell Or High Water’, and the singer returned to the top again with ‘Don’t Go To Strangers’ (1987) and ‘Darlene’ (1988). Brown’s albums were never huge hits, however, and an attempt to penetrate the European market in the late 80s was unsuccessful. When 1991’s You Can’t Take It With You failed to reach the charts, Brown was dropped by Capitol Records. He spent a fruitless period moving between different labels before signing with the independent Intersound and releasing a strong comeback album in 1998, Wine Into Water. The title-track dealt frankly with Brown’s fight against alcoholism. A live album followed in 2001 and a new studio set two years later.
