"A lot of people tell me they don't like country music, but they like what I am doing," says Junior Brown. "I hear that line more than anything else," which is ironic because a couple of licks is all it takes to erase any doubts concerning Junior's stylistic allegiance. His music combines the soul of country and the spirit of rock n' roll. Following years as Austin's best-kept secret, then a few more as the town's one must-see act for visiting musicians and label heads, Junior Brown and his music have since found an audience far beyond the Lone Star border. Junior's first two albums (12 Shades of Brown and Guit With It) have helped establish him as a crowd favorite from Texas roadhouses to the hippest clubs of New York City and Europe. There's usually a wide-eyed look accompanying one who witnesses Junior's unique instrumental prowess for the first time... or the second, or third, for that matter. Junior invented his own guitar, one that combines the standard 6-string guitar and the steel guitar. He calls it the "guit-steel." In Junior's hands, the guit-steel is an amazing tool, a means to creating some of the hottest, most heartfelt playing heard in years (and in a town like Austin, that's saying something). His talents have led major magazines like Musician to herald Junior as a genius. Life magazine honored him as the only contemporary musician included in their "All Time Country Band," and Guitar Player magazine's 1994 "Best of..." listings made him their #1 lap steel player, #2 Country Artist, and #3 country album (Guit With It). No matter what genre or accolade Brown crosses into he still upholds the advice given him by his idol, Ernest Tubb, "Keep it country, son".