POP MUSIC REVIEW : Passion Sets T. Graham Brown Apart From the Country Pack

T. Graham Brown is one of the few young artists coming out of Nashville who seems to understand that country music started out as the white man’s soul music. And it’s with a burning sense of soulfulness that Brown leans into his music, be it the tender ballad “Come As You Were” or a raucous rendition of his sassy “Brilliant Conversationalist.”

Although Brown isn’t country in the strict neo-traditional sense, his music embodies much of the heart and sensibility that is essential to good country music. But Brown takes things a bit further, whether it is the use of a blaring saxophone in “R.F.D. 50329” or his husky, dusky vocal that squeezes all the gut-bucket emotion out of the ballads “I Tell It Like It Used to Be” and “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again.”

Still, the Araby, Ga.-born Brown is easily one of country’s most compelling vocalists. When he shuffles on stage, as he did Monday night at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, he’s not one to merely croon; he testifies, often pushing a song to the emotional limit. And that passion is what has helped set Brown apart from the rest of the country pack.

His band, the Hard Tops, features top-of-the-line players who know how to give songs the oomph they need to transcend standard-issue country mush. Of course, any band that can play a red-hot instrumental version of “Whipping Post,” popularized by the Allman Brothers, can certainly stand up to anything T. Graham Brown can dish out.

It is that musical risk taking that helps make Brown’s show so satisfying. But don’t get the idea that this is some group of serious musicians toiling away in the name of art--this is a band that has a ball. You would be hard-pressed to find more smiles anywhere--unless it was in the audience.

Why T. Graham Brown isn’t a bigger commercial success is anybody’s guess. He can wail. He writes wonderful songs. He looks good. He even comes across like a real nice guy. Perhaps he is too different to fit in on country radio right now, but anyone who can do a rendition of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” moving from a gentle delivery to wide-open wounded wails, has the kind of pipes that Music City needs. Let’s hope it’s only a matter of time before Brown’s brand of country music catches on in a big way.