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Exploring Nashville Music History: T Graham Brown and his Journey from 80s Hits to Modern Collaborations in Music City · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: a Walk Nashville podcast, and today I am sitting down
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  Speaker 2: with country artist Tea Graham Brown. Such rich history in Nashville.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I can't wait for you to hear a conversation.
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  Speaker 3: But first, I'm.
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  Speaker 2: Also excited because my new EP, Just the Beginning, drops
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  Speaker 2: this Friday, May fifteenth. I hope you will go listen
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: to it on all music platforms and check out the
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  Speaker 2: short film on YouTube. I go back to Knoxville, Tennessee,
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  Speaker 2: back to Birmingham, Alabama, where I'm from. So I hope
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  Speaker 2: you will learn more about me and my story by
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  Speaker 2: checking out Just the Beginning under Sarah Harrelson on all
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  Speaker 2: music platforms. Now join me today as I sit down
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  Speaker 2: and speak with country artist Tea Graham Brown. Welcome to
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.
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  Speaker 4: Hi, everyone, This is Sarah Harrelson, your host of tikawalf Nashville,
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  Speaker 4: and joining a today is t Graham Brown. He is
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  Speaker 4: one of country music's most distinctive voices, known for blending country,
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  Speaker 4: soul and gospel influences.
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  Speaker 3: Into his style that's uniquely his own.
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  Speaker 4: He first rose to national fame in the eighties with
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  Speaker 4: a string of hit songs including Helen, High Water, Darlene,
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  Speaker 4: and Wine Into Water. Over the course of his career,
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  Speaker 4: he's started more than twenty singles and earned a loyal
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  Speaker 4: following for both his powerhouse vocals.
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  Speaker 3: And heartfelt songwriting.
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  Speaker 4: His album From Memphis to Muscle Shole celebrated the deep
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  Speaker 4: soul roots that have influenced his music throughout his career
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  Speaker 4: and became his first number one album. Today, he continues
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  Speaker 4: to tour across the country and is currently.
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  Speaker 3: Back in the studio working on Murray Musick. Thank you
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  Speaker 3: so much for being here with me.
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  Speaker 1: Today, Sarah, you sure are smart. How did you know
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  Speaker 1: that much about.
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  Speaker 4: Well? I definitely have had a lot of information, But
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  Speaker 4: I also grew up listening to a.
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  Speaker 3: Lot of your music.
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  Speaker 4: And you know you've been back in the studio working
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  Speaker 4: on a new album. So what can fans expect from
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  Speaker 4: your latest project?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know if you're familiar with the Gaither
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  Speaker 5: gospel gurger, I'm doing an album for them.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of.
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  Speaker 5: A R and B gospel record, Paul, and I'm going
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  Speaker 5: to have Vinceville is going to be on it, and
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  Speaker 5: awesome gospel singer David Felts and Jason krab And a
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  Speaker 5: big star these days of in Christian country radio. The
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  Speaker 5: Christian country radio scene is Zach Williams is going to
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  Speaker 5: be on there, and we'll probably get a couple.
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  Speaker 1: More folks on it. It's really cool. We're about halfway
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  Speaker 1: done with it.
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  Speaker 5: I'm gonna be very happy with the end result.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't wait.
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  Speaker 4: I can't wait to hear that, especially collaboration with Zach Williams.
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  Speaker 3: And talking about previous music.
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  Speaker 4: Your album From Memphis to Muscle Shoals that became your
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  Speaker 4: first number one album. What did that moment mean to
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  Speaker 4: you personally after you know, a long, cool year.
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  Speaker 5: Well, you know, it goes without saying it was very cool.
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  Speaker 5: It was number one on the Blues album's chart, so
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  Speaker 5: I you know, I luckily had a big hit album
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  Speaker 5: on the blues, the hit album on gospel, hit album
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  Speaker 5: on country. So I'm doing what I want to do.
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  Speaker 5: I never had a rock record, but I'd love to
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  Speaker 5: do one.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we were talking about Zach Williams.
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  Speaker 5: Zach Williams on the From Memphis to muscle shows record.
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  Speaker 1: He's doing itting with me on one of a Man
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  Speaker 1: Loves a Woman.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we went down to Fame Studios and Muscle Shows
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  Speaker 5: and cut fourteen nineteen sixties soul songs. I was talking
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  Speaker 5: to Dwight Yoakum and he asked me what I've been
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  Speaker 5: up to and I told him and he asked me
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  Speaker 5: if i'd cut a certain song and I said yes,
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  Speaker 5: and he asked if he could sing on it, and
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  Speaker 5: I went, are you kid? Yeah, I s I sent
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  Speaker 5: the tracks out to Hollywood and h he did a
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  Speaker 5: due it went back and sang harmony and he's a perfectionist.
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  Speaker 5: And when I got it back, when he sent it
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  Speaker 5: back to me, I thought, man, I need to call Tangier,
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  Speaker 5: And so I called Tanya and wine On Sammy Hagar
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  Speaker 5: and Zach Williams and Randy Howser, Sam Morphroms, the Late
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  Speaker 5: Great Sam Morphan Sam and Dad Deubert mcclennon a Little
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  Speaker 5: Anthony from Little Anthony and the Imperials just.
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  Speaker 1: Got eleven do this on it and didn't.
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  Speaker 5: It wasn't planned to be a duet album, but anyway,
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  Speaker 5: it's a really cool record.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So many great collaborations on them. I think you mentioned
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  Speaker 4: Randy Hauser sitting on the dock.
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  Speaker 3: Of the bay with you so good. How did some
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  Speaker 3: of those duets come together?
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  Speaker 4: Did you pick some of the artists or did know
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  Speaker 4: I put with them agether, Oh amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to have some of my heroes.
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  Speaker 5: Several of those those guys and Betty Levett, they're in
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  Speaker 5: their eighties and I just wanted the world to see
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  Speaker 5: that they could still sing and still carry the mails.
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  Speaker 1: So that was a lot of like like.
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  Speaker 5: Delbert's you know eighty two or thirty sound More was
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  Speaker 5: eighty nine. Little Anthony's probably eighty eight now. Eddie Floyd,
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  Speaker 5: who wrote and sang the original knock on Wood du
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  Speaker 5: edit with me on knock on Wood and he's in
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  Speaker 5: probably his mid eighties so and then the rest of
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  Speaker 5: them are probably my age.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I called them all up.
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  Speaker 3: Very cool.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. I don't know if you've been to the latest
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  Speaker 4: Muscle Shoals exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame,
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  Speaker 4: but it's really cool. I got to go to the
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  Speaker 4: opening concert for the exhibit. Kandy Staton and Betty Levett performed,
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  Speaker 4: and it's so cool just hearing the you know, the
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  Speaker 4: music from the show, so I'm glad you got to
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  Speaker 4: put your own spin on it.
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  Speaker 5: People don't realize that I cut most of my hits
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  Speaker 5: in muscle shows.
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  Speaker 1: I've been going to muscle shows since eighty four. I
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  Speaker 1: know all about muscle show.
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  Speaker 5: I'll probably go see that ex it, but I guarantee
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  Speaker 5: you there's nothing in the exhibit that I don't already know,
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  Speaker 5: and that I was right in.
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  Speaker 1: The middle of it.
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  Speaker 5: And I'm near the Muscle Shows rhythm section the Swampers
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  Speaker 5: I played on three or four of my hits.
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  Speaker 1: I know them all.
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  Speaker 5: And one of the coolest things about this tremendous to
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  Speaker 5: Musca Shows record is I got to get my friend
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  Speaker 5: David Hood, who's the bass player of the original Mosca
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  Speaker 5: shows Vio Sis.
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  Speaker 1: So it was kind of like a full circle moment. No, man,
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  Speaker 1: I know most of shows.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, that's amazing. You recorded most of your hits there.
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  Speaker 4: It's such a short drive from Nashville, and this year
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  Speaker 4: you're also celebrating the fortieth anniversary of your hit single
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  Speaker 4: I Wish that I Could Hurt that way again. You've
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  Speaker 4: recorded more than a dozen albums, charted over twenty singles.
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  Speaker 4: What's the biggest lesson this music industry has taught you
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  Speaker 4: over the year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, and I'll brag the man.
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  Speaker 5: I want an Emmy too, and I'll get to be
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  Speaker 5: in movies every now and then.
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  Speaker 1: I have wed I tell you, I had a show
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  Speaker 1: on serioush Sam you did.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's on Prime Country channel.
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  Speaker 4: I've definitely listened to that and tuned in how did you?
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  Speaker 1: I did bug them.
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  Speaker 5: For about three years and they finally, I think they
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  Speaker 5: finally just wanted to get me, you know, shoe me away,
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  Speaker 5: and they say, okay, we'll let you do this. And
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  Speaker 5: that's seven and a half years ago, so that's a
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  Speaker 5: lot of fun. But yeah, man, the good thing is
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  Speaker 5: I'm seventy one and nobody tells me what to do anymore.
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  Speaker 5: I've already been there and done that. All these new
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  Speaker 5: artists are having to try to get their songs played
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  Speaker 5: everywhere it is, you know, you know, whatever format is
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  Speaker 5: in I've done all that. I'm glad. I would hate
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  Speaker 5: to be starting out right now. I'm glad it's all
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  Speaker 5: behind it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's definitely a different dynamic now and you're taking
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  Speaker 4: the reins. But in addition to radio and your album,
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  Speaker 4: your voice has also been recognized on other campaigns like
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  Speaker 4: McDonald's the Taco Bell Run for the Border television spots.
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  Speaker 3: What got you into writing jingles?
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  Speaker 1: I had a friend to call me up the first time.
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  Speaker 1: The first jingle.
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  Speaker 5: I I went to New York Tom Anthony Music and
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  Speaker 5: we did a Coca Cola commercial.
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  Speaker 1: I've been lucky, man.
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  Speaker 5: I've done Coke and Mountain Dew and selling up and
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  Speaker 5: uh Doctor Pepper and uh Taco Bell, McDonald's, Hardy's, Burger King, KFC,
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  Speaker 5: every car and truck, uh basically every Budwiser, Stros Miller Cours,
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  Speaker 5: all these I even did.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't.
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  Speaker 5: The Almond, Joy Commerce, Disneyland, Harris Casinos just own and
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  Speaker 5: on them. I used to be the man both. You know,
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  Speaker 5: if I wanted, if they wanted something, they called me.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so cool that you have the opportunity to
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  Speaker 3: do that. Definitely a recognizable voice.
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  Speaker 4: I think anyone listening in should check out your Taco
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  Speaker 4: Bell commercials.
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  Speaker 1: They're fun to go on YouTube and look at a
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  Speaker 1: young t Gray and Brown. Go to YouTube and look
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  Speaker 1: up the one with little Richard.
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  Speaker 3: Me I sware to. They need to resurface those commercials. Yeah, no, kid, Well,
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  Speaker 3: you are also a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
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  Speaker 4: I loved seeing the video of Van Scale introducing you
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  Speaker 4: to become a member of the opry.
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  Speaker 3: Such a special moment.
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  Speaker 4: Do you remember the first time you stepped onto the
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  Speaker 4: Opry stage as a performer.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of hazy.
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  Speaker 5: It would have been in nineteen eighty five, and people
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  Speaker 5: always asked me if I remember remember it or remember
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  Speaker 5: who introduced me? The night they inducted me, they showed
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  Speaker 5: these old videos and reporter Wagner introducing me, and I
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  Speaker 5: looked so young, and I thought, man, that might be
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  Speaker 5: the first time I was ever on it. So but hey,
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  Speaker 5: I was on an opry last night. I'll be on
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  Speaker 5: it two times next week. I loved standing in that circle.
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  Speaker 5: Was nothing like it. It's the biggest career achievement of
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  Speaker 5: Sheila and I have ever gotten.
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  Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, that's wonderful.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, people can look forward to you still performing at
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  Speaker 4: the Grand Ole Opry. See Graham Brown, thank you so
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  Speaker 4: much for being on taking a walk in Nashville today.
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  Speaker 4: I had one last question for you. What is the
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  Speaker 4: most memorable walk you have taken in Nashville?
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  Speaker 1: The most memorable walk. Yes, God, Lee, Bob, that's hard,
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  Speaker 1: that's hard to say. I used to love going to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the Parthenon. Have you ever been to the vall time?
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  Speaker 3: I have?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was one of my favorite things.
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  Speaker 5: I guess one of my favorite walks would be when
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  Speaker 5: I first moved to town. I started singing demos and
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  Speaker 5: I would walk up and down Sixteenth Avenue when it
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  Speaker 5: was still music road and beg for opportunities to sing demos.
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  Speaker 1: And then that all.
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  Speaker 5: Came true and I got to be the guy on demos,
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  Speaker 5: and then that led to my first record deal on
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  Speaker 5: Capitol Records. So that's probably one of my favorite waltz
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  Speaker 5: is going up and down Sixteenth Avenue.
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  Speaker 4: It's so funny because John Barry said earlier the same thing.
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  Speaker 3: He's like, well, I love Centennial Bark, but when I
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  Speaker 3: wasn't doing that walking up in.
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  Speaker 1: Down sixties really well, hey, that's the way.
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  Speaker 3: It was exactly. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Well, thank you so much for beings today, and I
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: hope listeners will check out your new music timeless hits
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: and check you out at the grandele Opera.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: You know what, Sarah, you are very good at this.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I bre and God bless you thanks for listening to
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
• 12:39
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• 12:51
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• 12:53
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