Buddy Brown

A traditional country music artist with a D.I.Y. work ethic, Buddy Brown is a singer and songwriter whose success has been driven by his high profile on social media. Brown was born in Madison, Mississippi. As a child, he shared his mother’s taste for country acts such as Randy Travis and Charlie Daniels. When Brown was nine, his family relocated to Orlando, Florida, but he would eventually return to study psychology at Mississippi State University (where he also played football). Brown began singing in the church as a boy and playing guitar when he was 12. In 2001, he was inspired to write his first song after attending a Kenny Chesney concert. In 2009, he was making a living as a real estate broker, and shot a homemade video of himself singing Easton Corbin’s “A Little More Country Than That” while sitting on the tailgate of his pickup truck. He posted the video online and then gave it little thought, but when he took a look at it three months later, he discovered his performance had racked up 300,000 views. A year later, Brown scored a gig opening for veteran country singer John Anderson, and he began to build an audience through his savvy use of social media and online performance videos, developing a close connection with his fans. After posting a number of videos, Brown self-released his debut, Mason Jar, in 2012 and his fan base helped the album rise to 32 on digital sales charts. Brown’s chart success led to more live work and online performances, and in March 2014, he released a self-titled five-song EP that, like Mason Jar, was issued through his own Buddy Brown Music imprint. Brown soon embraced the EP as his favored format, releasing in quick succession Keepin' It Country (October 2014), Hometown Anthems (April 2015), Hurricane Stomp (February 2016), and I Call BS on That (October 2016). While most of his songs are stories and the stuff of small-town life, he’s also earned attention for numbers like “If This Country Still Had Balls,” and “I Call BS on That,” which speak out against the United States accepting refugees before taking care of veterans. The I Call BS on That EP landed at number one on the iTunes Country chart in its first week, and later charted on the Billboard Country, Heatseekers, and Albums surveys, while Brown gained 18,000 social media followers in the wake of its release. ~ Mark Deming