In Bruce Springsteen’s 2016 “Born To Run” he extolls the powers of a well-tuned bar band saying that though they might not be able to articulate it, any truly battle-tested bar band worth their salt is capable of incredible feats that land at the intersection of group psychology and music theory and he says these masters play weekly gigs, often for peanuts, in restaurants and barrooms and concert halls across the country nearly every night and certainly every weekend.
Ronnie Brown says that the Jackson area is no exception. Brown moved to Jackson about four years ago from Nashville where he worked “on the business side” at Universal Records. His main gig has been playing piano at Char on Friday evenings.
“I am really having the best time of my life,” Brown said. ‘The people at Char are incredible. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. There a lot of great musicians in Jackson and it is a great community.”
Brown has played at Pelican Cove and the Fairview and in addition to his Char gig he has played regularly for area nursing homes like Beau Ridge.
Larry Brewer, who claims the last job he had before music was in high school, has been working in Jackson as a musician for about 25 years.
“I still enjoy it,’ he said. “I love performing but I also still write and record music. What else would I do? ask if you want fries with that.”
Brewer stays busy booking gigs. Regularly he plays every other Wednesday at Katherine's in Ridgeland.
“I probably play three or four nights a week most of the time,” Brewer said. “But Katherines has become a home away from home. They know us there and it is like a big party.”
Brewer was in a rock band poised to make it big in the eighties. They were called the Windows and they toured with Jefferson Starship and were based out of Jackson for a while.
In 1987 Brewer said they had the number one requested song on Z106.7 and won a record of the year nod for Jackson with their 1982 album “Hello, Hello.” Brewer said he still gets requests from those days for the bands hit “Motorcar” or the title track form “Hello, Hello”, and still gets regular play in England and Japan.
Anna Ballard Fair is an up and coming artist who just released her first album, a four-song EP called “Wyoming,” on Valentine’s Day, February 14, of this year.
Fair has played M7 Coffee House in Ridgeland as well as CS’s, Cups and Offbeat in Jackson. The Ridgeland native is a multi-instrumentalist who plays songs on keyboard, guitar and cello. “Wyoming” has been in the works for a while, but Fair said each song comes fairly quick to her.
“I wrote ‘Wyoming’ in maybe five minutes while camping by myself in Wyoming,” Fair said. “I knew that when I started recording that would be the first song on the record.”
Fair said inspiration usually hits while she is traveling.
“I usually write my best stuff when I am in a place I am not used to,” Fair said. She said her sound could be described as more indie-folk but has been finding herself drifting towards country music as of late.
All musicians remember what got them into music.
Brown says that he remembers listening to his mom play the seven inch single of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” at the house.
“I was in the fifth grade and said ‘I have to learn to do that,’” He said. “And then it was all over after I heard ‘Benny and the Jets’ for the first time.”
Brewer has a slightly different story. He said it was a way to have fun and put off finding a real job, but was fortunate enough to land on something he enjoyed doing and would find a way to make a living at.
Often playing music, the crowd holds its own rewards. Brown has had the honor of playing at the Grand Ole Opry with a musician friend and playing in a wedding band that in Memphis a few years go in front of royalty.
Prince Harry and Prince William were there. He said not long after they were invited to play for the royal family in England.
Echoing Springsteen, Brewer said he can look at a crowd and have an idea of what to play.
“We play so many songs it is hard to pick a favorite but we do everything from Johnny Cash to Green Day so after a few songs or looking at the relative age of the crowd we can get a pretty good idea of how to get them excited,” Brewer said.
Fair said that making that connection to the crowd is a cool thing and is often unexpected.
“Spotify shows where your music is being listed to and outside of the Jackson area I get the most listens from Atlanta and Alaska which I find interesting,” Fair said. “I am not the most extroverted person. I might not naturally go up and talk to someone but when I see someone enjoying my music and connecting to something I connect to that is just a cool experience.”
Find Brown and Brewer at their regular gigs or for further details visit ronniebrown.com and larrybrewer.biz or find Fair’s EP Wyoming on Spotify, Apple Music and all major streaming and download platforms.
