With a gritty directness and a quiet strength, Randy Lewis Brown has been the voice of reason for quite some time. Just add him to each of our own never-ending lists of artists you must hear during these trying times.
Brown was born in Louisiana, spending his childhood in pre-civil rights Shreveport, immersed in the formative strictures and music of the church. He discovered a new world when, at twelve, his family moved to Houston.  It was there, as he grew to adulthood, that he began to connect with and make music in a deeper sense.  Having grown up in both Louisiana and Texas, Randy Lewis Brown’s tales are those of hard resignation with the occasional dappled sunlight of wounded optimism shining through. Having been tapped to open for Ray Wylie Hubbard, David Olney, Jim Lauderdale and more, Randy Lewis Brown has played across the country — extensively through Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana — including to multiple festivals like Tommy Alverson’s Family Gathering and the South Florida Folk Festival.
With a few days to go before a very important Martin Luther King Day, Glide is thrilled to premiere a studio version of Brown’s award-winning song”Desoto Parish Nights” (below) along with an accompanying video. Brown shot the video at home during December on his iPhone and added photos and video from his childhood years and edited it together with my new video editing discovery DaVinci Resolve. With shades of Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle, Brown’s well-worn voice is that of a punctuating intelligence and grace.
“Do you remember the day you woke up to the real world? How it wasn’t at all like you thought? For me it happened at the age of 10. What I mistook for a safe, loving existence was shattered by a simple act of ignorance and prejudice on a fateful Sunday evening. Desoto Parish Nights is that story told as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” says Brown.
