Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas artist Randy Brown started singing when he was just 13 years old and has been performing for over 30 years.

“I started playing when I was young, I was in junior high, played through high school, and then went to college and played,” Brown said. “I then worked full time and played on the side and eventually it got to where I could play full time and have been doing it full time for 20 years.”

Brown first started off just playing guitar and quickly realized if he only played guitar he would be more behind the scenes and that wouldn’t get him as far as he wanted to, so he started singing.

“People want to hear songs; they don’t just want to hear instrumental music, so I started having to sing myself. Probably the first time I ever got paid was playing guitar for a church group who put on an annual show and they had their orchestra, but they didn’t have a guitar player,” Brown said. “There was one song they wanted to do and they had to have a guitar. Somebody heard me play guitar and brought me in and I played that guitar part in that one song for like the three shows that they did and they paid me 30 dollars a night to come play that one song and I thought I was really a professional at that time. I was like man ‘I’m making money playing guitar, it doesn’t get any better than this’. That progressed into playing in college for parties and stuff like that. The next thing you know you’re making money playing the guitar when you just thought playing the guitar was just a hobby. When you get to do something, you love and you get paid to do it, that’s when you know you’ve hit the lottery.”

After playing and performing on his own for a while Brown decided it was time to start a band.

“For you to play music as a living you need a band. It was a natural progression,” Brown said. “I started playing acoustic, just me and my guitar, and then I found musicians I wanted to play with, started playing with them and next thing you know you get a gig together.”

Brown met his current band members through networking and playing with multiple people till he found what worked.

“I’ve had these guys with me for a long time. Where ever you play you meet people and try it out, some people fit some people don’t,” Brown said. “Some people have the same kind of music taste and some people don’t. Some people want to do different things in different directions and you just have to find your own recipe within your group of friends. The guys I’m currently with just enjoy picking together, we’ve been together forever. We just kind of hit it off, and all just fell into place.”

Over the years Brown thinks his music has been influenced by the types of music he likes to listen to.

“I’ve always been one of the guys that my first love was country music bit I grew up in the 80s so I like all kinds of music like classic rock, folk music, songwriters, western swing, blues and Cajun,” Brown said. “Man I love every kind of music in the world so it is kind of like a melting pot but it revolves around country. My vocals and my style are going to sound country no matter what I sing. Which is what’s great about Texas music is that you can get a little bit of everything.”

The Randy Brown Bands latest EP “Gravity” is Brown’s favorite album that he’s released so far.

“I like all of our albums but the last one we put out was a six song Extended Play (EP) called ‘Gravity’ and I was really proud of that one because out of the six songs I wrote three and then covered three. The three songs I covered are songs that really mean a lot to me,” Brown said. “The three songs I wrote, I wrote all by myself with a lot of help and input, but I am proud of it because it was a lot of me on that album. It was really organic, simple and straightforward country with no tricks or production. We didn’t go to somewhere like Nashville we did it all right here in Fort Worth, Texas. I guess I like that one the best because it’s mine and I did all of it myself.”

Although, Brown and his band are constantly busy that make sure they have time for write and are hoping to release another live album this time next year.

“You can probably expect new music this time next year. We’re debating doing another live album those seem to do really well for us. It’s not called the Randy Brown Band it’s called the Randy Brown Show. Everyone in our band puts on a show so were thinking about doing another live album,” Brown said. “My band is probably one of the best bands in the state, probably even the country and ill brag on them and were very in tune with each other so we can pretty much play anything in the country music genre but it’s about what really drives us and gets a spark going so we can get a live cut on a lot of stuff, which is a lot more efficient, real and fun for us.”

Challenges in the music industry have changed the way Brown and his band produce music. “Challenges are a part of every business no matter what you do and you know I think the biggest challenge right now is just that the music industry is changing, always has been changing and always will be changing and the only way to survive is to change with it. It seems like every change that happens in the music business is never in favor of an artist,” Brown said. “You know it can cut into your income stream like how many CDs we print then how many CDs are we selling, how many CDs did we used to make a living off of? And I don’t even remember the last time I sold a CD and that’s really frustrating because that’s something that technology in the music industry has changed. We no longer can sell CDs, so you know we have all this inventory and we try and go sell CDs but no one’s buying them anymore. You have to be ahead of the curve, and you have to be willing to adjust.”

Despite all of the challenges Brown and his band face he still loves what he does, has created so many memories, and is looking forward to what in store for The Randy Brown Band in 2019.

“We’ve got some really cool stuff coming up like LJT, trail rides, Las Vegas, our second annual Rednecks with Paychecks Shore Thang Mexico trip, traveling this summer, Cook’s Children Pickin’ for Preemies, working with Heather’s Old Skool Village with my wife Holly and all kinds of fun stuff this year,” Brown said. “It’s never a dull moment around here. We really get to have so much fun and it’s so rewarding to give back and donate to worthy causes.”

Through everything, Brown is so grateful for everyone who has been with him since the beginning.

“This is a musical journey and there’s people who will come in and out of your lives and it’s all part of it. I am blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who have helped me, taught me, mentored me, in every aspect of everything I do,” Brown said. “I learn from everybody and that’s the part of the fun of it all. The best way to learn anything is by making mistakes and the people who have been with me and influenced me like my mom and dad, aunts and uncles, to friends and coworkers, to bosses and heroes, I am so grateful for everything. I have no regrets and I am so thankful to literally everyone girlfriends, ex-wives, current wife, you know best friends and family and all kinds of people I am thankful for and they have all influenced me in one way or another.”

To those who haven’t ever heard of The Randy Brown Band he just wants everyone to have a good time.

“I want those who don’t know me to know if they ever come see me play its going to be a good, fun, positive time,” Brown said. I really care about making people happy, I want them t to come back to see me and I want them to be with me for the rest of this journey. I want to share all the joy and blessing that have been given to me and share them with everyone else.”

With LJT just a few weeks away Brown is so excited to be back to see everyone.

“The thing I love most about LJT is the friendships. All these years of doing what I love to do with wonderful people, it’s kind of like a family reunion,” Brown said. “I get to see so many faces that I may not have seen in several years or since the last year at LJT. I also get to make new friends, meet new people, and see everyone having a good time while creating memories. The fellowship is the biggest thing, it’s really the people that make Larry Joe Taylor Festival, The Larry Joe Taylor Festival. It’s really just a big family reunion of the Texas community.”

Make sure to check out The Randy Brown Band every morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the T-Birds Garage Pub starting April 23 during the Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music Festival.