Milton Brown

about

Milton Brown (September 7, 1903–April 18, 1936) was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing". The birthplace of Brown's upbeat "hot-jazz hillbilly" string band sound was developed at the Crystal Springs Dance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas from 1931 to 1936. Brown's music inspired the great string jazz musicians from Europe, Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli who in 1935 formed the Hot Club de Paris quintet. Along with Bob Wills—whom he performed with at the beginning of this career—Brown developed the sound and style of Western swing in the early 1930s; and for a while he and his band, Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies, were more popular than Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Brown's career was cut short in 1936 when he died in a car accident, just as he was poised to break into national stardom. Born in Stephenville, Texas in 1903, Brown moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1918. After graduating from Fort Worth's Arlington Heights High School in 1925, he worked as a cigar salesman, but he lost his job when the Great Depression hit in the late '20s. Brown began his musical career in 1930, when he met Bob Wills at a local Fort Worth dance. The Wills Fiddle Band was a twin fiddle band made up of Wills and Herman Arnspiger. They were performing at a local Fort Worth dance an

top songs

albums

Essential Western Swing

Complete Recordings of the Father of Western Swing 1932-37

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The History of Country & Western Music Vol 5

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Walk Right In (When the Sun Goes Down series)

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Rock N' Roll 1927-1938 CD 1

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Roots of Rock N' Roll Vol.1, 2

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Roots of Rock N' Roll Vol.1, 1927-1938 CD2

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Maverick Country

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Roots of Rock N' Roll Vol.1, 1927-1938 CD1

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Western Swing Classics, Vol. 2

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Roots of Rock N' Roll Vol.1, 1

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The History Of Country & Western Music

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