Junior Brown

Junior Brown lets loose a deep, rumbling laugh when asked if anyone has ever aptly described his deft blend of traditional country, rockabilly, Western swing and honky tonk. “Somebody once called me … what was it?—a progressive traditionalist. I thought that was pretty close,” he says. “But I probably liked ‘Ernest Tubb meets Jimi Hendrix’ more.”

For the casual listener, the second part of this comparison might be surprising—the Ernest Tubb part of his persona has come through far more clearly since the release of 1993’s 12 Shades of Brown. Brown is known as much for pioneering the guit-steel (a hybrid Telecaster/steel guitar) as for his prodigious skills as an instrumentalist, but those who’ve seen him perform know he occasionally evokes Hendrix when the mood strikes him.

“I used to play colleges and these kids would laugh at me,” he says, his tone colored with disgust. “And it used to really piss me off, so I would just reach over and crank [my amp] up to 11.” What followed would be a retaliatory strike of Hendrix riffage that wiped the smirks off his tormentors’ faces and proved Brown was no one-trick hick. Now, with his sixth album, Down Home Chrome, he not only continues with his stylistic grab-bag of cars, country and characteristic humor, but also covers his idol with a note-perfect rendition of the Hendrix classic, “Foxy Lady.” “No one really should do Jimi songs … except Jimi,” he admits. “But I thought I was justified in doing just this one.”