Shannon Brown

• Genre: New Country
• Hometown: Spirit Lake
• Shannon Brown Website

About

Twang rocking chanteuse Shannon Brown was bred into country music: her parents were musicians and entertainment venue owners who encouraged a young Brown to spend more of her time on the karaoke machine. Taken under their wing, she honed her tone well enough to enter singing pageants, join choir groups and perform at her parents' clubs, where her father would run the soundboard while her mom engineered the stage lights. After moving to Nashville to pursue singing, she accidentally met Big Kenny and John Rich (Big & Rich) when they were all seated next to one another at the 2004 CMT Flameworthy Awards. The threesome hit it off and they were soon rolling studio tape to record "Turn To Me." Rich produced her debut album, Corn Fed, with the same grit and gusto found in Gretchen Wilson's debut long player, but leaning a bit harder on crunchy rock guitars and Memphis grooves. Rich also let Brown experiment with textures from her own influences -- fusing early Michael Jackson-inspired dance beats with twin fiddle playing reminiscent of those early western swing ditties recorded by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Brown co-wrote seven of the 13 songs on her debut to make sure that her autobiographical lyrics would play up the small town farmer's daughter image. With her strong and sultry singing style, Brown proudly wears her musical influences on her sleeve -- especially in the hero-worshipping "High Horses," where she namedrops more famous musicians than a drunken Hollywood groupie.

- Eric Shea