Five Firsts: Joel Brown

NAME: Joel Brown
BAND AFFILIATION: Chris Brubeck’s Triple Play, the Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet, Dave Maswick & Joel Brown
INSTRUMENT: Guitar

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … The Beatles’ Second Album. Little did I know that it was actually the Beatles first album, but in the US, we got what ever Capitol Records gave us!

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … Because my parents are both >musicians, I saw a lot of orchestral and jazz concerts when I was quite young. But the first concert that really had a lasting effect on me was the Allman Brothers Band at Syracuse University. After the show, the band was back on stage putting their guitars away, winding up cords, which seemed normal then, but seems astonishing to me now. I actually went up and spoke with them.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … I played lots of different instruments when I was young (french horn, violin, piano, sax), but when I saw the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, I knew I was going to play guitar. I bought my first guitar, a Harmony Monterey, for 50 cents from a friend’s mom. It’s hardly playable now, but I still have it.

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … I formed a group with my older sister and another neighborhood girl when we were young. We would play at local functions, and our favorite song to sing was “Hurry Sundown” by Peter, Paul & Mary. That probably was the first song.

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … I guess I wouldn’t count the group with my sister as a band, so the first would have been Chester White (a breed of pig) in Urbana Illinois. I was in junior high school.

Joel Brown joins Dave Maswick (of the Stony Creek Band) for a dual-CD release party at the Parting Glass in Saratoga Springs at 3pm on Sunday (June 16). Brown celebrates the release of his new CD, “Places,” while Maswick launches his new solo disc “The News From Here.” They’ll be joined by a core band that includes Joel’s son Jason Brown on bass, as well as Steve Candlen (who duets with Maswick on his album), Don Young, Hank Soto and several additional special guests. Admission is FREE.