Best National Country Act

Junior Brown

Junior Brown's come a long way from the days when nobody knew him. On the strength of lots of hard work, he's made a name for himself in the country-music biz without compromising his artistic principles.

If his sound seemed retro (for those who remember him in his earlier days), his look was even more so. Decked out in a sport coat, string tie, and huge Stetson, he appeared as though he'd just stepped out of a time warp. Then there was his axe: a homemade contraption he'd dubbed a "git-steel" that was a Siamese-like fusion of a Stratocaster and a lap steel guitar fretboard painted up Canary yellow. He was simultaneously one of the strangest and most interesting things I'd ever seen. All the same though, I never thought he'd last.

Happily, he has. Through successive years and recording projects, the Indiana native's not only found himself a solid, sizable, and loyal audience but has gained the respect of the same Nashville music industry that once shunned him. Mind you, you still won't find him in the regular rotation on TNN or CMT, but a number of Nashville's movers and shakers pay homage to Brown with loud hosannas. He's continually praised for his singular playing technique and performance style, as well as for his efforts toward reviving key aspects of country music that make it what it is -- things like good songwriting and storytelling, which have been swept aside in contemporary country.

The tracks on last year's Semi Crazy offer some good examples of what I'm talking about. Amid the breakneck pace of his picking, Brown intersperses wry observations on everything from good and bad relationships (on songs such as "Gotta Get Up Every Morning" and "Venom Wearin' Denim") to working-class pride (in the truck-driving anthem, "Semi Crazy"). And he does it all in a way that never once sounds rote or formulaic. Frankly, I'm very glad he's lasted.

-- Mark Edmonds