Maneuver Roy Clark Sideways, Right There Between Felix & Oscar

Of course, when I think about country guitarists, I always think first of Roy Clark. Here he destroys a Flamenco tune called "Malaguena", which became perhaps his signature tune, in the same way "Sugarfoot Rag" was Junior Brown's calling card.

What makes this performance even more amazing is that he's playing a steel-stringed guitar when this song calls for nylon strings, a much more pliant and forgiving material.

And of course what seals the deal is that this from an episode of The Odd Couple.

Sideways Sugarfoot Maneuver

I've heard and/or seen Junior Brown do this song 1000 times over the past 20 years, and it still leaves me speechless.

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend # 219

Junior Brown: Guit With It: "You Didn't Have To Go All The Way" [mp3]

Aside from surnames, to the best of my knowledge, there are no popular (or even unpopular) bands with the word "brown" in their names.

Pretty much every other major color has been used in a band name, some more than others obviously...

Average White Band, The White Stripes, White Lion, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Black Dice, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Blue Cheer, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Green Day, The Green, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Red Red Meat, Simply Red, The Indigo Girls, Deep Purple, Orange, Agent Orange, Orange Juice, Orange Goblin, Orange 9MM, Orange Jefferson, Pink Floyd, Yellow Magic Orchestra...

But try finding a band with "brown" in their name. There's a rapper who calls himself Brown, but that's either his surname, or a reference to his skin color, so I'm not sure he counts.

A quick search at eMusic a moment ago reveals a Polish Metal band who call themselves Brown, so I guess this post has been pretty pointless thus far.

See, the thing is - I had run across the following formula while surfing the internet earlier this evening:

The Color Of The Shirt You're Wearing + The Object Immediately To Your Right = Your Crappy Superhero Name

As I write this, my superhero name is The Brown Stack Of Paperbacks, which I don't think is crappy at all.

And for whatever reason, while considering my brown t-shirt and my new, bitchin' superhero moniker earlier this evening, I started thinking about Junior Brown. I had a superdeep love for Junior Brown back in the early '90's, and one time my crew went to see him perform outside the Pabst Theater in downtown Milwaukee, with the slightly smelly (and decidedly brown) Milwaukee River rolling slowly behind him and his band.

After their typically awesome show, Junior hung around the front of the stage, drinking a bottle of Pabst while signing autographs and talking to about two dozen of us fans who hung around. I got his autograph on a $20 bill, and shook his hand, and as I remarked on the drive home, "He had the softest hand I think I've ever felt in my life," to which my buddy RSBJ replied, "Supple."

YES! SUPPLE! That's the perfect word. Junior Brown has the most supple hand I've ever felt in my life.

I still have that autographed Jackson, and while I still listen to his first three or four albums from time to time, I stopped seeking out new Junior Brown recordings about a decade ago. He never really expanded his palette as a songwriter or a stylist, which I hate writing because he's certainly a solid songwriter, and more importantly, a stunning guitarist and an almost iconic performer with his ten gallon hat and famous "guit-steel" guitar.

The most supple hand I've ever felt in my life, and one of the finest guitar players I've ever heard.

Hotcha! Hank