Michael Jerome Browne CD Launch

Michael Jerome Browne CD Launch

Written by Press Release

Michael Jerome Browne launches This Beautiful Mess

"MJB is one of my most favourite musicians on the scene today. His heartfelt original songs and soulful blend of blues and country sounds are the real deal." - Eric Bibb

September 18th - Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, Toronto ON
October 2nd - Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club, Winnipeg MB
October 3rd - The Club, Regina SK
October 4th – The Blue Chair Café, Edmonton AB
October 5th – St. James Hall, Vancouver BC
October 10th – The Dream Café, Penticton BC
October 11th – Lorenzo’s Cafe, Enderby BC
October 14th – beily’s Pub, Saskatoon SK
October 17th - Carma Acoustic Blues Series, Epcor Centre, Calgary AB
October 18th – The Grandstand, Medicine Hat AB
October 24th - Ontario Council of Folk Festivals- Borealis Showcase (Ottawa)
November 7th – La Sala Rossa, Montreal QC
November 8th – Irene’s, Ottawa ON

Renowned for his soulful, authentic performances of music derived from the American South, and for his encyclopedic knowledge of his chosen genres, Michael Jerome Browne has earned three Juno nominations for three distinctly different recording projects: one acoustic blues, one country blues and one old-time.

Now Browne is turning his attention to yet another facet of Americana with This Beautiful Mess, a toast to the bluesy mix of soul and country that flourished in the 1950s and 60s - the style of music captured on recordings by artists like Charlie Rich, Ray Charles and Solomon Burke. Like all of the musical forms from the region, it revels in the interplay of black and white influences that shaped the south’s musical geography – one where 50s and 60s country and R&B artists listened to one another, played together and were inspired by each other. Browne’s foray into the genre was motivated in part by his desire to collaborate with Ken Pearson, the renowned Montreal keyboardist who toured with Janis Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band. Together, they anchor an eight-piece ensemble that also includes pedal steel player Burke Carroll (Shania Twain, Sarah Harmer), veteran blues singer Suzie Vinnick, and Twin Rivers String Band collaborators
Michael Ball and Jody Benjamin.

This Beautiful Mess is Browne’s most ambitious recording yet, not only because of the size of the band involved but also because it’s his first album built on original compositions. And it’s a testament to his song-writing partnership with life partner Bee Markus that the new songs are virtually indistinguishable from the classics. In an ironic twist, Markus is the lyricist of the duo, resulting in Browne singing several mournful numbers about his girlfriend’s ex boyfriends. Yet he not only pulls it off convincingly, but the tracks - “Your Eyes Tell Me Goodbye” and “Low Tide Again” – are among the album’s stand-outs. Other highlights include the title track, inspired by a friend’s struggle with heroin addiction, and “When She Goes Out in the World,” about the importance of fathers in the lives of their daughters. Of the four covers on the record, “Pouring Water on a Drowning Man,” originally performed by James
Carr, and “One Way Street,” written by Ann Peebles – who also penned the Tina Turner hit “Can’t Stand the Rain” - are especially evocative.

This Beautiful Mess follows last fall’s release of Double, a double disc collection featuring a live electric blues set recorded at Montreal’s Main Hall and a reissue of MJB’s self-titled acoustic blues debut. Since then, Browne has hit the Montreal Jazz Fest and the Ottawa and Mont Tremblant Blues Fests, toured the Home Routes concert circuit on the Prairies and performed for Ottawa’s Blues in the Schools program – while also working on the new recording.

About Michael Jerome Browne:

Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1960, Michael Jerome Browne is the son of English professors whose love of music and poetry inspired them to take their nine-year-old son to the great jazz, blues and folk clubs in their adopted home of Montreal. It was there that Browne first heard the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Lightnin' Hopkins. By the age of fourteen he was performing professionally on the seventies coffeehouse scene, playing guitar, banjo and harmonica and singing.

Today, Michael Jerome Browne tours frequently in Canada, the U.K., Australia, Europe and the United States. He’s performed at Carnegie Hall with Kate and Anna McGarrigle, in the studio with Taj Mahal and Eric Bibb, and on tour with Guy Davis. He’s been honoured with a Maple Blues Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year and a Real Blues magazine award for Best Acoustic Blues Artist. Sing Out magazine calls him “one of today's most accomplished interpreters of traditional musical styles.”

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