LAKE COUNTY >> Several Coke bottles and other knick-knacks sold later, an eight-year-old boy had just enough to purchase a guitar he had set on layaway at the Bandbox Music store in Lakeport. Today, that guitar — among others — helped him produce his second album: “Lighthouse.”
What some may not know, however, is that the artist behind the music is District 5 Supervisor, bail bondsman, and high school wrestling coach Rob Brown.
Brown shared how music surrounded him since childhood, from his mother playing the piano to his grandmother on the fiddle.
“Looking back now, she (his grandmother) wasn’t very good at playing, but it really stayed with me,” he said. Besides listening to relatives, Brown sang in church, memorized and wrote poetry. But it wasn’t until he was left in a wheelchair after a severe car accident that left him in a wheelchair at the age of 19 that he took music seriously.
“I picked up a 12-string guitar and said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to take this more seriously.’ Then I started playing with a band in Cobb, The Prather Brothers, whenever they needed country music. We played for nine years.”
With years of practice, Brown decided it was time to mesh his vocal, instrumental, and writing talents into an album. Though he is open to various genres, Brown said country is his best area. And its evident in his two albums. First came, “A Man Like Me,” in 2015. The twelve-song collection offers plenty of storytelling, adorned with authentic, soulful rhythm play.
That combination is perhaps Brown’s musical signature. In the 2017 Lighthouse album, which he announced on Dec. 30, is packed with a series of varied scenarios and instruments including the violin, mandolin, cello, and dobro.
“I like to include instruments that aren’t so much paired together or used as often today like the dobro and saxophone,” he said. Find the soft, yet sharp sounds produced by the dobro guitar on “What’s It Like,” the second song in the album.
Brown credits the success of Lighthouse to long-time friends like Tania Hancheroff, his backup signer with piercing vocals, and studio musicians that have played for big names like the Rascal Flatts.
But perhaps more important to Brown are the messages behind the songs — essential to his signature style.
“What I write always has to be relatable,” he said. For example, the track “Hand To Hold” talks about a woman that “hits the gym at 6 a.m., trying to do her best. She won’t let it get her down; she’s bound to pass the test. Raising these babies on her own ain’t the way she had it planned.”
“That song is about a single mother,” Brown explained. “I know plenty of mothers in a similar situation. There’s ‘Fighting Back the Demons’ which may sound like a man cheating on his girlfriend, but it’s about fighting addiction. These are topics of everyday people.”
Another track with a relatable topic is number three in the collection. As an individual who has dedicated an endless amount of time in rodeo, he said songs about boys on the tracks are in abundance, but hardly any about females. So, he created the upbeat “Broken Hearts and Hoofprints,” — a song for girls that “sit on the saddle like a queen on a throne.”
The album cover depicts Brown and his guitar by the Point Cabrillo lighthouse in Mendocino, the cherry on top of a classic, country musical production.
“Besides working on the album in the Beaird Music Group in Nashville, a lot of local work went into it, from recording in a studio in Cobb to the cover photo shot in Mendocino.”
Brown’s recent announcement of his second album was positively received by many via social media. Those interested won’t be kept waiting far too long before a next production is released as he is already working on his third album with some surprises, Brown said. He expects the release date around Christmas time of this year.
Brown will perform some of his latest tracks tonight at Open Mic Night at the Middletown Arts Center, starting at 6:30 p.m. A $5 to $10 donation is suggested.
Brown’s Lighthouse is now available for purchase on store.cdbaby.com/cd/robbrown and soon on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.
