Marty Brown is releasing his first new official album from a label since 1996 with American Highway. As regular readers know, since we first lamented Brown’s disappearance from recording and then followed his musical resurgence after performances on America’s got Talent, we have been hoping and anticipating a new album. Now our dreams are coming true with a taste from the new Marty Brown album, the catchy song “Umbrella Lovers.”
Plowboy Records is releasing American Highway, which features ten songs Brown co-wrote with Jon Tiven (including one with Marty Brown Jr.). Tiven also co-produced the album. According to promotional materials, the new album’s sound embraces a range of country music — “Gospel to Blues to traditional Country, Rockabilly and beyond.”
Beyond his own music, Tiven has worked with a number of great artists, including Wilson Pickett. And he produced and played instruments on Frank Black’s 2006 album, Fast Man, Raider Man. That album featured a wonderful duet between Black and Marty Brown on “Dirty Old Town.”
The first song release, “Umbrella Lovers,” features Brown with an electric guitar groove in the background. The song grows on you with repeated listenings, and Brown’s voice is in fine form and out front where it should be. Check it out.
I cannot wait to hear the other songs on the album. They feature titles like
“I’m On A Roll (Better Than It’s Ever Been),” “Casino Winnebago,”
“Mona Lisa Smiles,” “Kentucky Blues,” and “Shaking All Over The World.” Perhaps what I am most excited about is that Tiven and the producers seem to understand that Brown is a great country singer who should not be pigeonholed into one narrow genre. American Highway is scheduled to be released on May 17, 2019.