Riding high on country charts these days is T. Graham Brown. His single "Don't
Go To Strangers" went Top Ten making it the highest debut by a Capitol/EMI
America/-Liberty artist since Kenny Rogers' "Love Will Turn You Around" in
July 1982. And speaking of Kenny Rogers, T. Graham Brown, will be opening for
Kenny Rogers two shows at the Fair grandstand on August 29th.
We talked with T. Graham Brown about his success so far.
Q. What's it like to have a hit record?
A. Man, I'm running like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm as busy as can
be. I never realized it was this hard. I'm enjoying it, but man, they keep
you hopping.
Q. You're currently on the road with Kenny Rogers, is that
right?
A. Yeah, well, Kenny's taking time off to make the Gambler III movie, so we
start back with him August 23rd or August 24th. So during then and now we're
doing rodeos, fairs, clubs, and outdoor shows. We're gonna do a show with Ronnie
Milsap, a show with Ricky Scaggs, a show with Reba. We just did a show with
Sawyer Brown. We just did Jamboree In the Hills, which is the largest outdoor
country show of the year, in Wheeling, West Virginia. 35,000 people were there.
Q. Do you consider yourself a country artist?
A. Well country radio is the only format that's playing what I do right now.
So, in that respect, yeah, I am a country artist. I'm more of a blue-eyed
soul man I guess you would say. I guess I do soul influenced rock 'n' roll
country. I've described it before as George Jones meets Otis Redding.
Q. Do you ever wish that country music had remained pure and
not incorporated so many kinds of influences?
A. No, I think country would've been dead if it had done that. I think having
a lot of different things is great for country music, for me anyway.
Q. Let's face it, people at a Kenny Rogers show are there
to see Kenny Rogers. Yet, you say you can grow from the experience of opening
his show. How so?
A. Oh, man, you can learn a lot. I've learned more in the last year, than in
the last 10 years combined. Just how to work a crowd, how to work in the round.
I never have played for the size of crowds we play for. It's a great opportunity
for me to introduce myself to people who have never heard of me or my music.
