Album Notes

You can see from his picture that Randy Brown has been making music for a long time. You could also say that is a good thing. This is no sappy love-sick songwriter, mooning over lost love or pride. Nope, this is the real deal. A songwriter, with heart, wit and insight, writing about the things he cares about and it shows. His lyrics are crisp, sharp and to the point. At turns, poetic and critical of the status quo. Not for the faint of intellect. Imagine Charles Darwin meeting Guy Clark and Van Morrision at a MIT BBQ. That just about sums it up.

This 2007 Nacogdoches Americana Festival Songwriting Winner, 1995 Kerrville Regional Finalist and 8 year member of jazz, swing, folk , acoustic legends Jealousy Motel. He wrote or co-wrote 19 of the songs on the group's 2 albums. Now, most recently, he has recorded 11 new original songs in his first solo project Dream Big. It has been 17 years since his now out-of-print first solo release, Time and Luck. It is high time we heard his voice again. Especially this time, when this man has something new to say.

Musically and lyrically, a wild eclectic, intelligent and exciting ride!!! That is how Dream Big, Randy Brown’s first solo CD after his 8 year 2 album career with the acclaimed jazz, swing and folk trio, Jealousy Motel, is being described by it’s ecstatic fans. From folk funk opening bars of Trouble all the way the last orchestral note of the closing number, Body of Clay. This project is a lyrical and musical roller coaster of the unexpected. Dream Big takes no prisoners as it launches with the folk, funk, rap tale of a homeless philosopher in Trouble. It drives directly into the folk-pop nugget title tune, Dream Big. Following on it’s heels is Quantum Valentine. A little the country western, klezmer, Dixieland tune about quantum uncertainty as it applies to relationships. Next on tap is Money is a Drug, a laid back easy-listening jazz cultural protest song. From there the project takes on a Texas songwriter feel with Distance, a salute to lost youth on the Texas-Louisiana border. Next in line is Brain Chemistry, a little folk-disco number about testosterone poisoning. Hector Stands is a celtic/folkish song about hope and miracles on our southern borderlands. Hector is followed by Tempus Fugit, a clock-tick percussion driven tune about the relentlessness of time. The subject of time is left behind so we can enjoy the only ballad on the CD, the bittersweet, Just the Rain. The rainy day feel is quickly broken however by the Celtic and folk inspired Truth is a Rabbit followed by the ominous last recording of the amazing acoustic trio Jealousy Motel, Body of Clay. You are left drifting at the end of life and Body of Clay surveying the universe amidst spooky wind chimes. Musically diverse, lyrically strong and intellectually rich, Dream Big is truly a feast for the heart, ear and mind.