jay brown

Maybe a Song, and All the Old Legends are the 2 songs that kick off the new triple disc, The Best of Jay Brown.  Both deal with the power of songs, and in their unique ways are a couple of love songs - to songs. Jay Brown has been in love with songs for a long time, and has spent most of his life singing them, writing them, pickin them, learning them, teaching them, gifting them, lifting them, and living by them. The Best of Jay Brown spans 27 years, from his earliest recording in 1996 on a reel to reel, to recordings made in 2023 with The Appalucians, as well as Asheville musicians Chris Rosser and River Guergueraian.

Jay's musical roots deepened when at the age of 20 he moved from Alabama to The Blueridge mountains of Boone NC, where he immersed himself in the old mountain music and piedmont blues that pervaded the area, and had a chance to meet and pick with some of the legends of those mountains, such as Doc Watson and Etta Baker. He co-founded the American roots band Lazybirds with his Alabama band-mate James Browne, and that band has been an institution in the Carolina roots music scene ever since. With his wondrous wife Aditi he has explored the intersection of East Indian and American folk and spiritual music, and the two of them also co-founded the songwriting  folk group The Appalucians, along with the multi talented Angie and Cas, of the Blushin Roulettes. 

With 3 young kids (all in the family band) Jay is most often found in and around his home in Black Mountain NC where he performs weekly at The Black Mountain Brewery and hosts a Songwriter showcase called Local Live! at The White Horse twice a month. He'll do a little tour a few times a year, and you might just catch him at a concert hall or joint near you.