Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
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Encyclopedia SpongeBobia

Jamieson Brown (born June 12, 1952; age 71), also known as Junior Brown, is an American country guitarist and singer from Cottonwood, Arizona. He was a guest star in the episode "Texas" when Sandy was singing the song of the same name. He sang the very last verse, which was "I wanna go home." He also composed the original music cues for "Texas" and sang a country/western version of the SpongeBob theme song that's used in the closing credits of "Texas" and "Walking Small."

Life and Career[]

Brown was born in Cottonwood, Arizona; at an early age his family moved to Kirksville, Indiana.[1][2] He first learned to play piano from his father (Samuel Emmons Brown Jr.) "before I could talk." His music career began in the 1960s, and he worked through that decade and the next singing and playing pedal steel and guitar for groups such as The Last Mile Ramblers, Dusty Drapes and the Dusters, Billy Spears and Asleep at the Wheel while developing his guitar skills. In the early 1980s, he appeared on stage with Rank and File as the replacement for Alejandro Escovedo. However, he did not feature on any recordings by that band.

By the mid-1980s, Brown was teaching guitar at the Hank Thompson School of Country Music at Rogers State University, in Claremore, Oklahoma.

In 1985, Brown created a new type of double-neck guitar, with some assistance from Michael Stevens.[3][4] Brown called the instrument his "guit-steel." When performing, Brown plays the guitar by standing behind it, while it rests on a small music stand. The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional six-string guitar, while the lower neck is a full-size lap steel guitar for slide playing. Brown has two guit-steels for recording and live work. The original instrument, dubbed "Old Yeller," has as its standard six-string guitar portion the neck and pickups from Brown's previous stage guitar, a Fender Bullet. The second guit-steel, named "Big Red," has a neck laser-copied from the Bullet neck; but in addition to electric guitar pickups, both the standard and lap-steel necks use identical Sho-Bud lap-steel pickups. There is a pocket in the upper bout of the guitar to hold the slide bar when it is not in use. Brown also commissioned a "pedal guit-steel" which adds pedals to the instrument for more musical control.[5] Brown has stated that the invention of the guit-steel was always a matter of convenience so that he could play both lap steel and lead guitar during live performances and not directly motivated by a desire to be a "one man band."[6]

Brown quickly became a local success in Austin, Texas, as the house band at the Continental Club. His debut album was 12 Shades of Brown (1990), released by the British Demon Records; it was re-released in 1993 on Curb Records in the United States, followed by Guit with It. In 1996, Brown released Semi Crazy, and followed it with Long Walk Back (1997).

Trivia[]

References[]

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