I'm Retired! Now what?

August 3, 2026

A week or so ago I got to witness the amazing talent of Junior Brown as he played at the Music On Main Concert series in Denison, Texas.  I’m always a sucker for good guitar playing whether it’s metal, blues, folk, or in this case country.  Junior Brown is the guy who plays his six-string guitar as much as he plays his lap steel guitar when he does shows, and one day he just got tired of switching back and forth on stage.  So in the name of simple practicality he combined the two guitars together and created a double neck guitar like no other.  I had never seen the guy play live, and he showed up with his band (wife included) and put on a great show.  The weather was a little hot but the price was right.  Yea, it was free, and here’s the review I wrote for it.

JUNIOR BROWN

MUSIC ON MAIN in DENISON, TEXAS July 24, 2026

Friday’s temperature had dropped down to a chilly 95 degrees opposed to 101, but the weather didn’t really matter because a country guitar legend was coming to Music on Main in Denison, Texas for the evening!  The first time I remember seeing Junior Brown, he was on TV playing the old song, Secret Agent Man on his guit-steel guitar.  I’ve seen plenty of double neck and even triple neck guitars in my life, but this was the first time I had ever seen a lap steel joined up with a six-string guitar.   Although that was decades ago, I was pretty fired up to see the guy play live and in person!

Since there was a decent crowd on hand, my usual side stage spot at Forest Park was filled, so I ventured into the area in front of the stage where I could kind of see.  Well, I could see the top of opening act Blair Kudelka’s head anyway.  This might be because the little singer is only ten years old.  Nothing shy about this little girl though.  She had the stage presence and beaming personality of Dolly Parton!  Maybe I couldn’t see her too well, but her amazing voice filled up Forest Park and beyond!  She’s one of those talents that you hope will become a big star just so you can someday say, “I saw her when she was only ten years old!” 

As Junior Brown came on stage, I was convinced I had a clear view.  At least I did until a couple of folks came wandering into the crowd and set up right in front of me.  So much for that clear view, and now all I could see from the stage was the top of Mr. Brown’s signature cowboy hat.  After a sigh of disgust, I packed up my chair and escaped to behind the crowd where I could stand up and take in this amazing musician!  Not just his hat!  The guy began his north Texas show with a Texas song.  As he belted out the song BROKE DOWN SOUTH OF DALLAS all I could think was, “Well, that’s better than being broke down in South Dallas!”  Now there’s a song in itself.

  Although Junior Brown looks like someone straight out of the 1950’s Grand Ole Opry, he’s not exactly a traditional country singer.  I doubt if George Strait ever pulled out songs like LIFEGUARD LARRY or MY WIFE THINKS YOU’RE DEAD.  I also doubt if many people can hit those low notes that the guy was delivering from the stage.  Even back where I was standing, I could nearly feel the vibrations from those basement notes!  I could also nearly feel the words to his song PARTY LIGHTS which refers to those flashing lights we see in our car’s rearview mirror on a bad day.  I think everyone can relate to that song in one way or another.  However, the guy could have lost his voice completely and the show would have still been great because Junior Brown can play guitar!

 The guy actually created his guit-steel guitar, and I’m kind of shocked more players don’t use it.  The way Brown went back and forth between the two guitars made me wonder why I’ve never seen this guy on any “greatest guitar players” list.  For kicks and giggles he even made his steel play out the sound of a police siren for his song HIGHWAY PATROL!  Now there’s something I never saw Eddie Van Halen do.  As I wondered what kind of blues guitar player the guy could be, he launched into his own version of blues guitar with STUPID BLUES.   To mix things up a bit, his better half, Tanya Rae took over the vocals on HANDY MAN.  If nothing else, I loved the woman’s name Tanya Rae.  And if things couldn’t get any better, Junior launched into the instrumental SECRET AGENT MAN, which is the very first rock and roll song I remember hearing as a six-year-old.  Years ago, I saw Johnny Rivers play that song.  Although he was the guy who made the song famous, he certainly wasn’t playing a guit-steel.  Then again, few folks do.