Gene Watson’s Peers within the country music industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as ‘the singer’s singer’ – and rightly so!
All of Gene Watson’s Peers, who were contacted during 2011, were most gracious with their time and words.
It is here, within this special part of The Gene Watson Fan Site, that you have an opportunity to read a quote from Maxine Brown, which she submitted to this site on Thursday 28 April 2011.
Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to Maxine Brown who made a special contribution to this unique part of this online ‘celebration of a Lone Star Hero’.
Maxine Brown
This quote was submitted on Thursday 28 April 2011.
‘It would be an honour for me to make some sort of quote – thanks for asking.
‘Love in The Hot Afternoon‘ makes me wish I was young again…and making love in some tangled old sheets in New Orleans or anywhere.
I love Gene Watson’s singing!’
Thank you, Maxine Brown, for your support of Gene Watson.
About Maxine Brown…
Maxine Brown was born on Monday 27 April 1931 in Campti, Louisiana and was raised in various towns and villages in Arkansas.
In 1952, Maxine Brown began singing with her younger brother, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015), on Barnyard Frolic, a ‘live’ weekly radio show broadcast from Little Rock in Arkansas.
In 1954, Maxine Brown and Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) recorded their first hit, ‘Looking Back To See’ (written by Maxine Brown), which reached No.8 on the Billboard country music singles chart; the track was subsequently included on their debut album, ‘Jim Edward & Maxine & Bonnie’ (RCA Records, 1957), which was released in April 1957.
‘Jim Edward & Maxine & Bonnie’ (RCA Records, 1957) also included ‘I Heard The Bluebirds Sing’, which reached No.4 on the Billboard country music singles chart in 1957.
Soon after, their younger sister, Bonnie Jean Brown (Sunday 31 July 1938 – Saturday 16 July 2016), joined the act.
They joined Louisiana Hayride in 1954; it was there that they met and befriended Elvis Presley (Tuesday 8 January 1935 – Tuesday 16 August 1977), who was then seeking a job on that show.
The Browns toured with Elvis Presley (Tuesday 8 January 1935 – Tuesday 16 August 1977) between 1954 and 1956, when they became members of The Ozark Jubilee, a nationally broadcast television series.
Their next song, ‘Here Today & Gone Tomorrow’ (written by Maxine Brown) reached No.7 on the Billboard country music singles chart in 1957, and was subsequently included on ‘The Best of The Browns’ (RCA Records, 1966), which was released in May 1966.
Initially, the three siblings billed themselves as ‘Jim Edward, Maxine & Bonnie Brown’, but by 1958, they were performing, and recording, simply as ‘The Browns’.
Then, in 1959, The Browns released the record that would make them literally world-famous. The song in question was ‘The Three Bells’, an English version of the French song, ‘Les Trois Cloches’, and their producer was the renowned guitarist Chet Atkins (Friday 20 June 1924 – Saturday 30 June 2001).
‘The Three Bells’ climbed to No.1 on the Billboard country music singles chart and remained there for a total of ten weeks. The track also topped the Billboard pop music singles chart for four weeks and reached No.10 on the rhythm ‘n’ blues chart.
‘The Three Bells’ was subsequently included on ‘Sweet Sounds By The Browns’ (RCA Records, 1959), which was released in September 1959.
In March 1960, The Browns saw the release of ‘Town & Country’ (RCA Records, 1960), which included two hit singles, ‘The Old Lamplighter’ (No.20, 1960) and ‘Scarlet Ribbons’ (No.7, 1960).
The Browns toured Europe, where they were greeted by members of another singing group which would soon be calling itself ‘The Beatles’, and appeared on a number of popular musical variety programs, including ‘American Bandstand’, ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and ‘The Arthur Murray Show’.
After numerous guest appearances, The Browns joined The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 1963, where they continued as one of its most popular acts.
In January 1965, The Browns saw the release of ‘Three Shades of Brown’ (RCA Records, 1965), which included the hit single, ‘I Take The Chance’ (No.2, 1965).
In May 1965, The Browns saw the release of ‘I Heard The Bluebirds Sing’ (RCA Records, 1965), which included two hit singles, ‘I Heard The Bluebirds Sing’ (No.4, 1965) and ‘Send Me The Pillow You Dream On’ (No.23, 1965).
In November 1966, The Browns saw the release of ‘Our Kind of Country’ (RCA Records, 1966), which included the hit single, ‘I’d Just Be Fool Enough (To Fall)’ (No.16, 1966).
The Browns’ ‘Our Kind of Country’ (RCA Records, 1966) also included a rendition of ‘Tips of My Fingers’, which was written by Bill Anderson.
Faced with family responsibilities, Maxine Brown and Bonnie Jean Brown (Sunday 31 July 1938 – Saturday 16 July 2016) left the group in 1967, while Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) continued as a soloist.
In 1966, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) scored his first solo success with ‘Pop-A-Top’, which was written by Nat Stuckey (Sunday 17 December 1933 – Wednesday 24 August 1988); the track, which was included on Jim Ed Brown’s ‘Just Jim’ (RCA Records, 1967), reached No.3 on the Billboard country music singles chart in late 1967.
• Ann M. Stuckey provided a ‘Peer’s Quote’ about Gene Watson on Saturday 25 January 2014
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) continued to grow as a star in his own right with more hit singles, including ‘Morning’ (No.4, 1970), ‘Southern Loving’ (No.6, 1973) and ‘Sometime Sunshine’ (No.10, 1974).
A six-season run as co-host of the syndicated weekly television series, ‘Nashville On The Road’ began in 1975, further enhancing Jim Ed Brown’s career and leading to his being selected as a national spokesperson for Dollar General Stores.
Then, in 1976, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) teamed up with Helen Cornelius to form one of the most successful recording duos of all time, with smash hit single releases, including ‘Don’t Bother To Knock’ (No.13, 1981) and ‘Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye’ (No.2, 1976).
Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) & Helen Cornelius also set an industry record when ‘Lying In Love With You’ made the largest single country chart leap in Billboard country music singles chart history, vaulting from 0 to 19; the track eventually reached No.2 on the Billboard country music singles chart in 1979.
In 1983, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) started working with The Nashville Network (TNN) and remained host of ‘You Can Be A Star’ for six years; he also co-hosted ‘Going Our Way’ with his wife Becky.
Beginning in 2003, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) added another chapter to his entertainment repertoire when he began hosting the weekly ‘Country Greats’ music radio show. As of 2009, the popular weekly show was being broadcast on nearly two-hundred stations throughout the United States.
Jim Ed Brown’s folksy storytelling and warm recollections of the stories behind the songs helped make the show the fastest growing country music show in America.
Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) remained with The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he was an audience favourite.
Jim Ed Brown performed around thirty shows per year on The Grand Ole Opry, as well as performing a number of shows on the road.
In addition to his radio and television commitments, Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) toured throughout the United States, where he presented his down-to-earth brand of family entertainment to an ever growing legion of fans.
Maxine Brown also recorded briefly as a solo act with Chart Records in 1968 – 1969, scoring the country hit single, ‘Sugar Cane Country’.
In the years since, The Browns reunited for special events and performed occasionally on the hallowed stage of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015) was a member.
Bill Anderson & Jan Howard (Friday 13 March 1929 – Saturday 28 March 2020) recorded Maxine Brown’s ‘Looking Back To See’, which was co-written with Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 june 2015), and included the track on ‘Bill & Jan (Or Jan & Bill)’ (Decca Records, 1972).
Laurel Canyon Ramblers recorded Maxine Brown’s ‘Here Today & Gone Tomorrow’, which was co-written with Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015), and included the track on ‘Blue Rambler 2’ (Sugar Hill Records, 1996).
In 1996, The Browns briefly joined the roster of the independent Nashville-based record, label Step One Records, and saw the release, on Tuesday 12 March 1996, of ‘Family Bible’ (Step One Records, 1996), an album of Gospel material, which included the following tracks:
‘Amazing Grace’ (written by John Newton and William Walker)
‘Uncloudy Day’
‘Mansion Over The Hilltop’ (written by Ira Forest Stanphill)
‘I’ll Fly Away’, which was written by Albert Edward Brumley (Sunday 29 October 1905 – Tuesday 15 November 1977)
‘Family Bible’ (written by Walt Breeland, Paul Buskirk and Claude Gray)
‘He’ll Set Your Fields On Fire’
‘Life’s Railway To Heaven’ (written by M.E. Abbey)
‘I’ll Meet You In The Morning’, which was written by Albert Edward Brumley (Sunday 29 October 1905 – Tuesday 15 November 1977)
‘The Family Who Prays’, which was written by Charlie Louvin (Thursday 7 July 1927 – Wednesday 26 January 2011) and Ira Louvin (Monday 21 April 1924 – Sunday 20 June 1965)
‘How Great Thou Art’ (written by Carl Boberg)
In 2005, University of Arkansas Press published Maxine Brown’s autobiography, ‘Looking Back to See‘, a copy of which could be purchased at many bookstores, Bill Clinton Museum Store and online.
Evi Tommysdottir Djurhuus (stage name Evi Tausen) saw the release of ‘Wishing Well’ (Evi Djurhuus, 2011), which featured a duet recording, with Jim Ed Brown (Sunday 1 April 1934 – Thursday 11 June 2015), of the classic country song, ‘Oh, How I Miss You Tonight’ (written by Benny Davis, Joe Burke and Mark Fisher); the original version of this track was recorded by Jim Reeves (Monday 20 August 1923 – Friday 31 July 1964), who included it on ‘The Intimate Jim Reeves’ (RCA Records, 1960).
In 1979, while singing at a private party, Deborah Allen was discovered by producer, Bud Logan, who invited her to sing on five unfinished duet tracks by the late country music legend, Jim Reeves (Monday 20 August 1923 – Friday 31 July 1964).
Three of these songs, ‘Don’t Let Me Cross Over’ (No.10, 1979), ‘Oh, How I Miss You Tonight’ (No.6, 1979) and ‘Take Me In Your Arms & Hold Me’ (No.10, 1980), were duets, and were released as singles, making the Billboard country music Top 10 singles chart for Jim Reeves’ longtime label, RCA Records.
Deborah Allen was billed as ‘The Mystery Singer’ on the first release, an innovative promotion by label head, Joe Galante.
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