Texas Johnny Brown

Texas Johnny Brown (February 22, 1928 - July 1, 2013) was an American blues guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for his composition "Two Steps from the Blues" and, in a lengthy career, worked with Joe Hinton, Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lavelle White, Buddy Ace, and Junior Parker.  Although he was born in Mississippi, Brown's long association with Houston, Texas, gave him his stage name.

He was born John Riley Brown, in Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi.  As a child, he played guitar alongside his father, who was blinded while working for the railroad, on the streets of his hometown and further afield, before the family finally relocated to Houston in 1946.

Brown's professional music career started in a band called the Aladdin Chickenshackers, who regularly backed Amos Milburn. He recorded with Milburn and also backed Ruth Brown on her earliest cuts for Atlantic. Through this work, in 1949, Brown was able to record some tracks of his own, where he was in turn backed by Milburn and the Aladdin Chickenshackers  Brown's three-year stint of military service finished in 1953, and he re-commenced backing Lightnin' Hopkins.  In addition, Brown performed regularly with Junior Parker throughout the 1950s.

Brown's recording career continued in the mid-1950s when he was utilized mainly as a sideman for both of the affiliated Duke and Peacock record labels. Often his contributions went unaccredited on releases by musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Joe Hinton. In the late 1950s, Brown composed "Two Steps from the Blues", which became the title of an album released by Bobby "Blues" Bland in 1961. Brown toured as Bland's lead guitarist in the 1950s and 1960s.

Brown continued with his regular recording and stage duties until 1963, when he began some day jobs, including driving trucks, working as a mechanic, landscaping, and operating a forklift.   He retired in 1991 and formed the Quality Blues Band with whom he performed up to his death.

In 1998, Brown finally released an album under his name, Nothin' but the Truth, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Award in 1999 as the 'Comeback Album of the Year'.

In September 2001, Brown was named 'Blues Artist of the Year' at the Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton Blues Festival, which took place in Houston.  In January 2002, Brown's second album, Blues Defender was released, also on Choctaw Creek Records

In September 2011, Brown's roots were honored with a historical marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Ackerman.

Brown died at his home in Houston, Texas, on July 2013 from lung cancer, aged 85.

(Texas Johnny Brown at 6th annual Poconos Blues Festival 1997)