TEXAS JOHNNY BROWN AND THE QUALITY BLUES BAND
TO PLAY AT THE 42nd ANNUAL SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL

TEXAS JOHNNY BROWN AND THE QUALITY BLUES BAND
TO PLAY AT THE 42nd ANNUAL SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL

HOUSTON, TX - Blues legend Texas Johnny Brown and his Quality Blues Band are proud to announce that they will represent Texas blues at the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival's "Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food and Wine" program on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 25-29, 2008.

Johnny and the Band will play the following sets in the Texas section of the Festival grounds:

The special evening concert Saturday, June 28, 6:00 p.m., entitled "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Concert", will feature Johnny and the Band representing "Saturday Night" and The Jones Family Singers, a gospel group from Markham, Texas, representing "Sunday Morning".

Johnny will also be featured at the "Remembering the Duke Peacock Record Label" workshop, Thursday, June 26, 2:15 - 3:15 p.m., in the "Texas Talk" tent, where he will be interviewed by Dr. Roger Wood, professor at Central College, Houston Community College System, and author of the books "Down in Houston, Bayou City Blues" and "Texas Zydeco". Johnny will then join legendary steel player and producer Lloyd Maines, Austin, and Max Baca, bajo sexto player with Los Texmaniacs, San Antonio, on the "Texas Guitar Traditions" program, Sunday, June 29, 11:00 a.m. - noon, on the Texas Opry House stage.

The full Festival schedule can be downloaded in pdf format from http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/schedule/Index.html .

Texas Johnny Brown - Nothin' But The Truth

Johnny's distinctive guitar style has graced records for such artists as Amos Milburn, Junior Parker, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Ruth Brown since the 1940s. Atlantic Records included "There Goes the Blues", "Bongo Boogie" and "Blues Rock", three originals that Johnny recorded for Atlantic in 1949, on a 1986 compilation of great blues guitarists.

As a composer, Johnny wrote the blues standard "Two Steps from the Blues", one of the most beautiful blues songs ever recorded and one of Bobby Bland's biggest hits.

Over the last decade, Johnny has recorded and performed with his own Quality Blues Band. He released the award-winning "Nothin' But the Truth" and the critically acclaimed "Blues Defender" CDs on Choctaw Creek Records during that time. Both CDs are primarily comprised of Johnny's original tunes.

Here are just a few of the many prestigious festivals at which Texas Johnny Brown and the Quality Blues Band have performed:

  * The Chicago Blues Festival
  * The King Biscuit Blues Festival
  * The Pocono Blues Festival
  * The Portland Waterfront Blues Festival
  * The Lucerne Blues Festival (Switzerland)
  * The Telluride Blues and Brews Festival
  * The W.C. Handy Blues Awards Festival
  * The Blues Masters at the Crossroads Festival
  * The Long Beach Blues Festival
  * The Cincy Blues Fest
  * The Baltimore Blues Festival

Interviews, photos, references and additional information are available upon request.

The Quality Blues Band

The Quality Blues Band - veteran Houston musicians William Hollis on keyboards, Larry Evans on bass, and Giovanni Godley on drums - will accompany Johnny at the Festival. William played on Johnny's "Blues Defender" CD while Giovanni co-produced and played on Johnny's "Nothin' But the Truth" and "Blues Defender" CDs and composed the music for "Bad Hair Day" from "Blues Defender". Larry (formerly with Sisters Morales) joined the Quality Blues Band several years ago.

The 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Quoted from a 5/12/08 Smithsonian Institution press release at http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/folklife08_overall.htm :

"The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, inaugurated in 1967, celebrates folk culture with people from across the United States and around the world. The Festival typically includes daily programs of music, song and dance, crafts, occupational skills and cooking demonstrations, storytelling, workshops and narrative sessions for discussing cultural issues. It attracts approximately 1 million visitors a year. The Festival is a research-based production of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Visitors to the 42nd annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival can learn about the unique culture of the Kingdom of Bhutan, commemorate the 50th anniversary of NASA and explore the music, food and wine of the state of Texas.

The 10-day Festival held outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets, will take place from Wednesday, June 25 through Sunday, June 29 and Wednesday, July 2 through Sunday, July 6. The event is co-sponsored by the National Park Service, and admission is free. Festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day, with concerts, special events and dance parties extending into most evenings."

Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food and Wine

Quoted from a 5/1/08 Smithsonian Institution press release at http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/folklife08_texas.htm :

"This summer, the Smithsonian will celebrate the music, food and wine of Texas at the 2008 Folklife Festival. The "Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food and Wine" program will share the stories of more than 100 Texans who have dedicated their lives to celebrating, promoting and preserving the rich culture of the Lone Star State.

Quoted from the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival's website at http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/Texas/index.html :

"Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food, and Wine will focus on the great heritage of music, food, and winemaking from every region of the state. Over ten days, the National Mall will host demonstrations, performances, and famous Texas talk about the Lone Star State's proud history and its contemporary traditions. Up to a million visitors will hear presentations of Texas blues, swing, conjunto, country and western, gospel, and tejano music; see demonstrations of wine making; enjoy diverse culinary traditions, old and new, from barbeque to Vietnamese soups, from kolach making to chicken fried steak.

Texas at the Smithosonian will illustrate a dynamic and creative society built upon rich natural resources, thriving cosmopolitan cities and engaging rural landscapes, where a rich heritage of freedom, optimism, opportunity, and achievement contribute to a vibrant contemporary culture."

For more information about this year's Festival:

Smithsonian Folklife Festival
http://www.folklife.si.edu

Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food, and Wine
http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/Texas/index.html

2008 Folklife Festival Press Kit
http://newsdesk.si.edu/kits/folklife/2008/default.htm

Media only Folklife Festival contacts:
Becky Haberacker - 202-633-5183
Amy Kehs - 202-309-5543

Public only Folklife Festival contact numbers:
202-633-1000 (voice)
202-633-5285 (TTY)

Blues Defender in Stores Now!

Houston, TX: January 22, 2002

Texas Johnny Brown's new CD, Blues Defender, has been released nationally and is in stores now! Ask your local retailer!

Texas Johnny Brown Releases Blues Defender

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Houston, TX: October 20, 2001

TEXAS JOHNNY BROWN RELEASES BLUES DEFENDER

Choctaw Creek Records and Texas Johnny Brown are proud to announce the release of Texas Johnny Brown's new CD, BLUES DEFENDER. Choctaw Creek Records and Texas Johnny Brown will host a party to celebrate the release of BLUES DEFENDER Friday, November 2, 2001, 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m., at The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club, 5731 Kirby, Houston, TX, (713) 523-9999.

BLUES DEFENDER is legendary bluesman Texas Johnny Brown's highly-anticipated follow-up to his Handy Award-nominated NOTHIN' BUT THE TRUTH (CCR00012). Composer of the beautiful blues classic "Two Steps from the Blues" - a huge hit for Bobby "Blue" Bland - Johnny has been defending the blues since the 1940s when he began his professional musical career as an original member of Amos Milburn's "Aladdin Chickenshackers". Johnny's guitar shines on many of Milburn's Aladdin Records sessions as well as on Ruth Brown's early recordings for Atlantic Records. When Johnny made his own Atlantic recordings in 1949, Milburn and his band were there to back him up. In the 1950s and 1960s, Johnny toured as the lead guitarist and band leader for Bland's and Junior Parker's bands and was a studio musician at Houston's Duke/Peacock Records. Johnny's distinctive guitar style graces not only recordings by Bland and Parker but also those of Duke/Peacock greats Lightnin' Hopkins, Joe Hinton, Larry Davis, Lavelle White and Buddy Ace.

In 1999, NOTHIN' BUT THE TRUTH was honored with a W.C. Handy Award nomination for Comeback Album of the Year. Now, Choctaw Creek Records is proud to present Texas Johnny Brown's BLUES DEFENDER, the latest in a long line of fine recordings by one of the top figures on the American blues scene.

Please contact Paula Gingrich at (281) 578-5626 or ccrinfo@choctawcreekrecords.com for more information or to schedule an interview with Texas Johnny Brown.

CONTACT: Paula K. Gingrich
Tel.: (281) 578-5626
Fax: (281) 829-6139
ccrinfo@choctawcreekrecords.com