Blanco Brown:
The Cover Story
Blanco Brown:
The Cover Story
Blanco Brown; Photo Credit: J.Kaviar
When Blanco Brown looked out into the sea of 40,000 fans at Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, SC, on Sunday, June 13, one fan caught his attention. A grown man with tears in his eyes mouthed the words, “I’m so happy that you’re alive.”
“I read his lips and it almost broke me down mid-show,” Brown tells Sounds Like Nashville over the phone three days after the performance.
Carolina Country Music Fest was Brown’s first festival date in more than a year and the first full-band set since a near fatal motorcycle accident on Aug. 31, 2020. Brown, then riding his motorcycle near his home in Atlanta, GA, suffered significant injuries in the head-on collision with a pick-up truck and was transported to a local hospital where he underwent two 12-hour surgeries.
Brown, 36, spent nearly a month in the hospital and continues to undergo physical therapy four to five times a week.
“I’m still coming along,” he says. “It’s going to be a journey but it’s a blessing to be able to walk and to be back out on the road again amongst the earthlings.”
Brown walked out on stage Sunday with his cane in hand “just to make sure them 808s don’t knock my legs off in front of me,” he says. “Then I put it away.” Ahead of his performance the band did a line check, but he didn’t get to gauge what the electric drum machine felt like on stage. The drumbeat often made his legs tremble before the accident, so Brown used his cane to “test the waters” and get comfortable back on the stage.
When Blanco Brown looked out into the sea of 40,000 fans at Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, SC, on Sunday, June 13, one fan caught his attention. A grown man with tears in his eyes mouthed the words, “I’m so happy that you’re alive.”
“I read his lips and it almost broke me down mid-show,” Brown tells Sounds Like Nashville over the phone three days after the performance.
Carolina Country Music Fest was Brown’s first festival date in more than a year and the first full-band set since a near fatal motorcycle accident on Aug. 31, 2020. Brown, then riding his motorcycle near his home in Atlanta, GA, suffered significant injuries in the head-on collision with a pick-up truck and was transported to a local hospital where he underwent two 12-hour surgeries.
Brown, 36, spent nearly a month in the hospital and continues to undergo physical therapy four to five times a week.
“I’m still coming along,” he says. “It’s going to be a journey but it’s a blessing to be able to walk and to be back out on the road again amongst the earthlings.”
Brown walked out on stage Sunday with his cane in hand “just to make sure them 808s don’t knock my legs off in front of me,” he says. “Then I put it away.” Ahead of his performance the band did a line check, but he didn’t get to gauge what the electric drum machine felt like on stage. The drumbeat often made his legs tremble before the accident, so Brown used his cane to “test the waters” and get comfortable back on the stage.
Brown says that he has learned to take his recovery one step at a time. Over the past nine months he has taught himself how to sit up, feed himself and walk again.
“When people can’t walk, they use their arms to strengthen their legs and they can hold on and hold their body weight up,” he explains. “I had none of that. I had nothing to hold my weight up. I had to learn how to walk with my elbows. It was a hard task.
“I don’t think people understand that and I fought for where I wanted to be. I fought for this life. I fought to be back. I just knew I had to walk again because my purpose wasn’t over, and God kept on showing me why I am where I am and why I went through what I went through that night. It could have been somebody else, but they wouldn’t handle it like me, so I went through it, I stood in the gap and I’m prevailing.”
Just like taking his recovery one step at a time Brown, (real name: Bennie Amey III), has adopted a slow and steady outlook to his career. Brown grew up in a musical family. A Few Good Men, his uncle and cousin’s band, was signed to LaFace Records. As a result, Brown was frequently on the tour bus with TLC, Toni Braxton and Pebbles. He signed his first record deal at seven with NuStarr Records as part of the band X’s 3 with his brothers. These early experiences had Brown certain music was his calling.
Eventually he worked on songs for Pitbull (“Goalie Goalie”), Monica (“Suga”) and Fergie (“M.I.L.F.$”) but it wasn’t until much later that his desire to become an artist came to the forefront. An early mentor was Jasper Cameron, who introduced Brown to the industry and showed him the ins and outs.
“I went along from engineering to vocal producing to writing people’s records and I decided, ‘Hey, I’m tired of giving people my songs to narrate. I want to narrate my own story,’” he says. “I feel like it couldn’t be more authentic than coming out of my mouth. … From then on, I just started the journey, followed the course and stayed on track with what I felt like was my purpose.”
Brown was raised in Georgia, splitting his time in the hood with his parents and in the country with his grandmother. He spent his summers in Butler, GA with his grandmother and great aunts and fondly recalls listening to Keith Whitley, Johnny Cash and Tim McGraw. He says records like Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” made him fall in love with country music.
“I decided to be true to what I love and not really be concerned about what people felt like I couldn’t be a part of,” he says of blending his love of hip-hop and country to make a new sound he categorizes as TrailerTrap. “I had people telling me I would never make it in the music industry. These Black folks, my people. A lot of people think you come to Nashville and just because people are not the same color as you, they’ll be the ones to doubt you and not believe in you. It was like 50/50. It wasn’t one sided.”
Despite people’s doubts that he could pursue a career within the country genre, Brown stayed the course and remained true to himself.
“It has led me to a lot of great things just being patient and being real,” he says. “You stay true to yourself, and you don’t have to worry about anything.”
It was this authenticity that attracted BMG Nashville President Jon Loba to the singer. Brown signed to BBR Music Group/BMG in 2018.
“The first time I met Blanco and heard his music, I had the same reaction as the first time I heard Jason Aldean’s…this was genre-bending art that could appeal to a wide audience around the world,” Loba says. “Now approaching over 5x platinum on just two singles in the U.S. alone and multiple platinum certifications internationally, he has done just that. His trademark TrailerTrap music has top-line creators in every genre wanting to collaborate with him.”
Brown says that he has learned to take his recovery one step at a time. Over the past nine months he has taught himself how to sit up, feed himself and walk again.
“When people can’t walk, they use their arms to strengthen their legs and they can hold on and hold their body weight up,” he explains. “I had none of that. I had nothing to hold my weight up. I had to learn how to walk with my elbows. It was a hard task.
“I don’t think people understand that and I fought for where I wanted to be. I fought for this life. I fought to be back. I just knew I had to walk again because my purpose wasn’t over, and God kept on showing me why I am where I am and why I went through what I went through that night. It could have been somebody else, but they wouldn’t handle it like me, so I went through it, I stood in the gap and I’m prevailing.”
Just like taking his recovery one step at a time Brown, (real name: Bennie Amey III), has adopted a slow and steady outlook to his career. Brown grew up in a musical family. A Few Good Men, his uncle and cousin’s band, was signed to LaFace Records. As a result, Brown was frequently on the tour bus with TLC, Toni Braxton and Pebbles. He signed his first record deal at seven with NuStarr Records as part of the band X’s 3 with his brothers. These early experiences had Brown certain music was his calling.
Eventually he worked on songs for Pitbull (“Goalie Goalie”), Monica (“Suga”) and Fergie (“M.I.L.F.$”) but it wasn’t until much later that his desire to become an artist came to the forefront. An early mentor was Jasper Cameron, who introduced Brown to the industry and showed him the ins and outs.
“I went along from engineering to vocal producing to writing people’s records and I decided, ‘Hey, I’m tired of giving people my songs to narrate. I want to narrate my own story,’” he says. “I feel like it couldn’t be more authentic than coming out of my mouth. … From then on, I just started the journey, followed the course and stayed on track with what I felt like was my purpose.”
Brown was raised in Georgia, splitting his time in the hood with his parents and in the country with his grandmother. He spent his summers in Butler, GA with his grandmother and great aunts and fondly recalls listening to Keith Whitley, Johnny Cash and Tim McGraw. He says records like Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” made him fall in love with country music.
“I decided to be true to what I love and not really be concerned about what people felt like I couldn’t be a part of,” he says of blending his love of hip-hop and country to make a new sound he categorizes as TrailerTrap. “I had people telling me I would never make it in the music industry. These Black folks, my people. A lot of people think you come to Nashville and just because people are not the same color as you, they’ll be the ones to doubt you and not believe in you. It was like 50/50. It wasn’t one sided.”
Despite people’s doubts that he could pursue a career within the country genre, Brown stayed the course and remained true to himself.
“It has led me to a lot of great things just being patient and being real,” he says. “You stay true to yourself, and you don’t have to worry about anything.”
It was this authenticity that attracted BMG Nashville President Jon Loba to the singer. Brown signed to BBR Music Group/BMG in 2018.
“The first time I met Blanco and heard his music, I had the same reaction as the first time I heard Jason Aldean’s…this was genre-bending art that could appeal to a wide audience around the world,” Loba says. “Now approaching over 5x platinum on just two singles in the U.S. alone and multiple platinum certifications internationally, he has done just that. His trademark TrailerTrap music has top-line creators in every genre wanting to collaborate with him.”
Blanco introduced his unique genre-blending sound in May 2019 with “The Git Up.” Aided by a viral dance challenge on TikTok, “The Git Up” swiftly climbed the charts and remained at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for 12 weeks. According to Billboard, the song’s success made Brown the first soloist to reign for more than 10 weeks since the chart adopted a multi-metric methodology in 2012.
Blanco wrote and produced the song himself. “The Git Up” also became the first Hot Country Songs chart topper that was written, produced and performed by a single person since the chart began its multi-metric methodology in 2012.
“The Git Up” was Brown’s debut single from his debut album, Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs, released in 2019. Success continued to follow Brown as Parmalee recruited the singer for “Just the Way,” which released December 2019. The song hit No. 1 earlier this year.
Parmalee’s Matt Thomas wrote the song in 2018 and the band recorded four different versions of “Just the Way” before asking labelmate and friend Brown to put his vocals on the track. Thomas adds that performing the song together at Carolina Country Music Fest in front of 40,000 fans was special.
“He’s always about positivity and purpose and I think that added that much more positivity to the song,” Thomas says. “His bounce, the way he does his melodies on top of the melodies I’ve written and his harmony above my harmony … just the energy he’s got too. I think the fact that we were friends, we’re not just two people collaborating on the song, helped the whole thing.”
Blanco introduced his unique genre-blending sound in May 2019 with “The Git Up.” Aided by a viral dance challenge on TikTok, “The Git Up” swiftly climbed the charts and remained at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for 12 weeks. According to Billboard, the song’s success made Brown the first soloist to reign for more than 10 weeks since the chart adopted a multi-metric methodology in 2012.
Blanco wrote and produced the song himself. “The Git Up” also became the first Hot Country Songs chart topper that was written, produced and performed by a single person since the chart began its multi-metric methodology in 2012.
“The Git Up” was Brown’s debut single from his debut album, Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs, released in 2019. Success continued to follow Brown as Parmalee recruited the singer for “Just the Way,” which released December 2019. The song hit No. 1 earlier this year.
Parmalee’s Matt Thomas wrote the song in 2018 and the band recorded four different versions of “Just the Way” before asking labelmate and friend Brown to put his vocals on the track. Thomas adds that performing the song together at Carolina Country Music Fest in front of 40,000 fans was special.
“He’s always about positivity and purpose and I think that added that much more positivity to the song,” Thomas says. “His bounce, the way he does his melodies on top of the melodies I’ve written and his harmony above my harmony … just the energy he’s got too. I think the fact that we were friends, we’re not just two people collaborating on the song, helped the whole thing.”
Video Credit: WMG (on behalf of Broken Bow Records)
Brown’s upcoming sophomore album, expected this fall, will combine the boundary-breaking TrailerTrap sound he’s invented by merging country and hip-hop with 808 beats, trap snares and country imagery. While his accident has informed some of the songs he has written, he says it hasn’t changed his purpose as an artist.
“Nobody’s More Country” is the first taste of new music from his forthcoming project. Brown wrote the song a month ago with Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, Jordan Schmidt and his brother Quintin Amey. It pulls from Brown’s Georgia roots while namedropping influences like Tim McGraw.
Brown says the upbeat, feel-good “Nobody’s More Country” is an accurate indication of what fans can expect from his album.
“I say expect a lot of dancing, a lot of joy. That’s what I implement in my record, that’s the spirit I give it, so I think it exudes through my vocal and the rhythm of the tracks,” he says. “‘Nobody’s More Country’ could be your own personal testimony that nobody is more country than you.
“‘I’ve been back and forth from here to Georgia, Carolina to California’ — places that embody country and don’t have a whole bunch of country towns in them,” he continues, quoting the song’s lyrics. “I’ve seen people love the same music that I love when you wouldn’t expect it. From Germany to Poland, you wouldn’t expect them to love country music, but it travels further than the mind can even perceive.”
Brown’s upcoming sophomore album, expected this fall, will combine the boundary-breaking TrailerTrap sound he’s invented by merging country and hip-hop with 808 beats, trap snares and country imagery. While his accident has informed some of the songs he has written, he says it hasn’t changed his purpose as an artist.
“Nobody’s More Country” is the first taste of new music from his forthcoming project. Brown wrote the song a month ago with Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, Jordan Schmidt and his brother Quintin Amey. It pulls from Brown’s Georgia roots while namedropping influences like Tim McGraw.
Brown says the upbeat, feel-good “Nobody’s More Country” is an accurate indication of what fans can expect from his album.
“I say expect a lot of dancing, a lot of joy. That’s what I implement in my record, that’s the spirit I give it, so I think it exudes through my vocal and the rhythm of the tracks,” he says. “‘Nobody’s More Country’ could be your own personal testimony that nobody is more country than you.
“‘I’ve been back and forth from here to Georgia, Carolina to California’ — places that embody country and don’t have a whole bunch of country towns in them,” he continues, quoting the song’s lyrics. “I’ve seen people love the same music that I love when you wouldn’t expect it. From Germany to Poland, you wouldn’t expect them to love country music, but it travels further than the mind can even perceive.”
While Brown says there won’t be any country collaborations on the project, there may be an assist from fellow Georgia acts including Goodie Mobb and 311’s Marvin “Slim” Scandrick. Instead of focusing on features, though, Brown wants the music to speak for itself.
“The album is going to be full of my story and me telling people how I got to where I am,” he says. “I want you to be a part of my journey. A lot of people are wondering how did I get to this place, how did I break this record, how did I keep positive, how did I stay strong? My album will explain a lot of that, so I’ll let you into my world more.”
According to label head Loba, the project also will include more of Brown’s signature TrailerTrap sound as well as his vocal prowess.
“You will learn what an amazing vocalist Blanco is. Audiences got a taste of that with the No. 1 country radio and Top 25-and-climbing Hot AC hit ‘Just The Way’ with Parmalee,” Loba says. “We can’t wait for everyone to hear more of those melodic, positive and joyful hooks on his next album!”
Brown will spend much of the summer on the road with Old Dominion and Brice Vine. As he gears up for a new chapter, his story remains one of resilience and positivity. It’s a message he hopes to bestow onto others.
“I just want everybody to be inspired — even if it ain’t by me — to just go for what you want in life,” he says, “because you can look back 70 years from now and regret not giving yourself a chance.”
Video Credit: WMG (on behalf of Broken Bow Records)
