 
Chester Rosson (May 1997) Although a vocalist rather than an instrumentalist--unusual in a band leader--Milton Brown is now credited as one of the creators of Western Swing. Brown has long been seen in the historical shadow of Bob Wills, largely because he died in 1936, at the height of the Swing era, while Wills led successful bands into the seventies. Both had come to the attention of the public through the Light Crust Doughboys, but had gone their separate ways, Wills eventually forming the Texas Playboys and Brown his Musical Brownies. Today, scholars of the period say Brown arrived at the characteristic sound of Western Swing long before Wills arrived at a similar level of sophistication. As a fifteen year old Milton Brown moved with his family from Stephenville to Fort Worth. He had a fine voice and as he matured, he longed to become an entertainer, but was forced to work days as a salesman for a cigar company. In 1927 he began singing for dances, backed by his twelve year old brother Durwood, but it wasn't until he was laid off in the first big down-sizing of the Depression that he was able to consider making a living from his music. The Brown brothers soon got together with fiddler Bob Wills and guitarists Herman Arnspiger and Clifton Johnson to play on radio as the Aladdin Laddies. When that job came to an end, future governor W. Lee O'Daniel set them up to advertise over the radio his Burrus Mill Light Crust Flour as the Light Crust Doughboys. Then came the series of disputes that broke up the band and set up Wills and Brown as musical competitors. So far the standard history. But the crucial addition of Bob Dunn's steel guitar to the Brownies mix of fiddles, banjo, bass, and piano in 1935 brought into focus the sound that Milton Brown's brand of Western Swing was aiming for all along. The results of the new sound that Brown created can be heard in re-releases of some of the Brownies' classics that feature Dunn's exemplary playing. |
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