{{short description|American singer}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Piney Brown | image = With blues shouter Piney Brown, The Netherlands, 2000.jpg | caption = Brown (left) reunited with Ed Wiley Jr., after nearly 50 years, at the Blues Estafette in Utrecht, Netherlands, 2000 | image_size = 260px | birth_name = Columbus S. Perry | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|01|20|mf=y}} | birth_place = Birmingham, Alabama, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|02|05|1922|01|20|mf=y}} | death_place = Dayton, Ohio, United States | instrument = Vocals | genre = R&B, blues | occupation = Singer, songwriter | years_active = | label = Apollo Records, King Records, Jubilee Records, Sound Stage 7, among others }}
'''Columbus S. Perry''' (January 20, 1922 – February 5, 2009),<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues: A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger| location= Santa Barbara, California| pages=45–46 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> better known as '''Piney Brown''', was an American R&B and blues singer and songwriter, who has been described as a "fine, big-voiced shouter".<ref name="bare"/> He released a string of singles between 1948 and 1988 and issued two albums late in his career. His songs have been recorded by Little Milton and James Brown.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://themusicsover.com/tag/piney-brown/ |title=Piney Brown |publisher=Themusicsover.com |date=2010-02-05 |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
==Life and career== Perry was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri,<ref name="bare"/> and joined his family's gospel singing group. He relocated to Baltimore in 1940 and made his recording debut as Piney Brown for Miracle Records in 1947.<ref name="Campber">{{cite web |url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/miracle.html |title=Miracle Records |publisher=Campber.people.clemson.edu |accessdate=2016-10-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427195857/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/miracle.html |archivedate=2009-04-27 }}</ref> Of the four songs that were recorded, only one was released, "That's Right, Little Girl", issued by Esquire Records in the UK several years later.<ref name="Campber"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsvinylguide.com/ebay_items/piney-brown-that-s-right-little-girl-eddie-chamblee-esquire-r-b-uk-78-rpm-blues |title=Roots Vinyl Guide |publisher=RootsVinylGuide.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref> Perry took the stage name Piney Brown from a club owner in Kansas City in the 1930s, who was immortalized in Big Joe Turner's "Piney Brown Blues" (1940).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/big-joe-turner-mn0000060726/biography |last=Dahl|first=Bill|title=Big Joe Turner: Biography |publisher=Allmusic.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
An item in the ''Chicago Defender'' on February 7, 1948, reported that Brown was beginning a package tour the next month.<ref name="Campber"/> His tenure with Miracle was short-lived, and he moved the same year to Apollo Records in New York City, cutting several sides in 1948, including the single "Morning Blues" backed with "Gloomy Monday Blues".<ref name="Obit"/> He next recorded for Sittin' In With Records, at which he met his long-time friend Ed Wiley Jr. They worked together for the first time in 1952, on the single "Have Mercy" backed with "Kokimo" (1952).<ref name="Obit"/> Short-term, largely fruitless, stints followed with Par (1952) and Atlas Records (1954).<ref name="Campber"/>
In 1953 Brown recorded "Ooh You Bring Out the Wolf in Me" backed with "Don't Pass My By" for Jubilee Records and "Walk-a-Block-and-Fall" backed with "Whispering Blue" for King Records.<ref name="Obit"/> None of his records made the national charts, but they sold well locally, and Brown was a top-performing attraction who regularly toured the country. He performed with the young guitarist Albert Collins in the early 1950s.<ref name="bare"/> In the music polls in the ''Pittsburgh Courier'', Brown was regularly nominated as the "top blues artist".<ref name="Obit"/> He performed as a duo with Billy Brooks, and they played for a time at the Club DeLisa in Chicago, as a result of which both of them recording for Duke Records.<ref name="Campber"/> In 1959, Brown recorded "Sugar in My Tea (Cream in My Coffee)" backed with "My Love" for Mad Records, a label founded by Tommy "Madman" Jones two years earlier.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQU3AgAAQBAJ&q=%22Piney+Brown%22.+%22Blues+singer%22&pg=PA646 |title=The Blues Encyclopedia |author1=Komara, Edward |author2=Lee, Peter |page=646 |date= July 2004|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135958329 |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
In the early 1960s, Brown returned to Birmingham to look after his mother, although he continued to tour more locally. By 1969, he signed a contract with Sound Stage 7 and released a couple of singles, including "One of These Days (You're Gonna Want Me)" backed with "Nashville Wimmin" (1970). Brown co-wrote the song "Popcorn" with James Brown. He performed on package tours with Ted Taylor, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley.<ref name="Obit">{{cite web |url=http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/blue-notes/21674-legendary-blues-singer-piney-brown-dies |title=Legendary Blues Singer Piney Brown Dies |publisher=Communityvoices.post-gazette.com |date=2009-02-18 |accessdate=2016-10-04 |archive-date=2015-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204191151/http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/blue-notes/21674-legendary-blues-singer-piney-brown-dies |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 2000, after 48 years apart musically, Brown and Wiley<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blues.about.com/b/2009/02/18/blues-singer-piney-brown-rip.htm |title=2013 Blues Music Awards Winners & Nominees |publisher=Blues.about.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04 |archive-date=2012-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302004027/http://blues.about.com/b/2009/02/18/blues-singer-piney-brown-rip.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> reunited to perform at the Blues Estafette, in Utrecht, Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~odemar/bluesestafette2000/estaf2000.htm |title=Blues Estafette 2000 |publisher=Xs4all.nl |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref> Brown's debut album, ''My Task'', was issued in 2004. His last album, ''One of These Days'', was issued by Bonedog Records, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 2006. Brown supported its release by playing some local gigs.<ref name="Obit"/>
Brown died on February 5, 2009, at the age of 87, in Dayton, Ohio, his home since 1963.<ref name="Obit"/>
==Ambiguities of songwriting credits and naming== Songwriting credits for Rosco Gordon's "Just a Little Bit"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=782502&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID|website=Repertoire.bmi.com|title=Just a Little Bit: BMI Work #782502: Gordon Rosco|accessdate=2016-10-04|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140817173944/http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=782502&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID|archivedate=2014-08-17}}</ref> sometimes include Brown, but the authorship is unclear.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/just-a-little-bit-mt0007148249 |title=Little Milton, "Just a Little Bit" |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref> In 1959, Little Walter recorded "Me and Piney Brown" on Checker Records No. 938.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Little-Walter-Me-And-Piney-Brown/release/5063256|title=Little Walter – Me And Piney Brown|website=Discogs.com|accessdate=2 February 2018}}</ref>
He is not to be confused with the Piney Brown who was the manager of the Sunset nightclub in Kansas City in the 1930s. Big Joe Turner wrote "Piney Brown Blues" in that man's honor and sang it throughout his career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/work/101278 |title=Piney Brown Blues |publisher=SecondHandSongs.com |date=1940-11-11 |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
==Discography== ===Albums=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 2004 || ''My Task'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bonedog Records |- | 2006 || ''One of These Days'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bonedog Records |}<ref name="Albums">{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/piney-brown-mn0000850462/discography |title=Piney Brown: Discography |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
===Selected singles=== {{Incomplete list|date=October 2016}} {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Year ! style="width:300px;"|Title !Label |- | style="text-align:center;"|1948 |"Morning Blues" / "Gloomy Monday Blues" |Apollo Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1950 |"Why Do I Cry over You?" / "That's Right, Baby" |Apollo Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1951 |"How About Rockin' with Me" / "Lovin' Gal Blues" |Apollo Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1952 |"Have Mercy" / "Kokimo" |Sittin' In With Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1953 |"Walk-a-Block-and-Fall" / "Whispering Blues" |King Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1953 |"Ooh You Bring Out the Wolf in Me" / "Don't Pass My By" |Jubilee Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1959 |"Sugar in My Tea (Cream in My Coffee)" / "My Love" |Mad Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1962 |"Unemployed" / "After There’s Love" |Cimarron Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1969 |"Everything but You" / "(I'm Tired of) Running" |Deep Groove Records |- | style="text-align:center;"|1969 |"Bring It On Home" / "Baby, Don't Do It" |Sound Stage 7 |- | style="text-align:center;"|1970 |"One of These Days (You're Gonna Want Me)" / "Nashville Wimmin" |Sound Stage 7 |- | style="text-align:center;"|1988 |"Two Lips in the Dark" / "Ain't It a Shame" |D-JKN |}<ref name="Discogs">{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/473248-Piney-Brown |title=Piney Brown Discography |publisher=Discogs.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.78discography.com/Apollo350.htm |title=Apollo 78rpm Numerical Listing Discography: 350–550 |publisher=78discography.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globaldogproductions.info/a/apollo.html |title=45 Discography for Apollo Records |publisher=Globaldogproductions.info |date= |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/jubilee.htm |title=Jubilee Records |publisher=Soulfulkindamusic.net |date=1968-08-28 |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.78discography.com/SittinIn.htm |title=Sittin' In with 78rpm Numerical Listing Discography |publisher=78discography.com |date=2012-06-22 |accessdate=2016-10-04}}</ref>
==Other sources== *Baumgartner, Brian. "Unheralded Legend of R&B and Still Singing the Blues: Piney Brown". ''Juke Blues'', vol. 48, pp. 28–37.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.goldminemag.com/article/10-questions-with-blues-icon-piney-brown Interview with Piney Brown]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Piney}} Category:1922 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American blues singers Category:20th-century African-American male singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:20th-century American singers Category:Songwriters from Alabama Category:Singers from Birmingham, Alabama Category:Apollo Records artists Category:King Records artists Category:Jubilee Records artists Category:20th-century American male singers Category:21st-century American male singers Category:21st-century American singers Category:African-American songwriters Category:21st-century African-American male singers Category:American male songwriters Category:20th-century American songwriters