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The French King Was Decapitated

by Jefferson Brown

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1.
I Wouldn't Call It Love 04:49
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2.
Mutiny On the Bounty 02:20
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3.
Melody 04:05
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4.
Blind By Choice 04:36
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5.
Only a Fool Feels They Deserve It 03:43
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6.
The Woods are Dark and the River is Wide 04:48
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about

AUSTIN, Texas – Jefferson Brown crafts vibrant vignettes with equal measures grace (“I Wouldn't Call It Love”) and guts (“Mutiny on the Bounty”). Narratives jump from the page (“Only a Fool Feels They Deserve It”). Proof: The French King Was Decapitated. “Lyrically this record is trying to capture the inward emotions that one feels looking out at the larger culture,” Brown says, “a personal and poetic take, never topical, on the political realities of the day. They say that tragedy plus time equals comedy. So much of the culture is absurd and grotesque. I'm always asking myself, 'Are we in the middle of a comedy or an opera?'” Results here speak for themselves.

Brown backs Leonard Cohenesque lyrical dexterity with infectious melodies (the appropriately titled “Melody”) and soaring vocals (“Blind by Choice”) throughout. The Pennsylvania native but longtime Central Texas resident composed all songs and enlisted ace local players – first-call Austin artists Kathy McCarty, Barbara Nesbitt, Tiger Anaya from Shinyribs and Seattle-based Randy Weeks among them – on the six tracks. “These are my songs and words, but this record is really a collaboration between the producer Mick Flowers and me and my brother Ben Brown as well,” he says. “The three of us played and arranged most of the tracks on the record and brought in one or two guests per song. Mick and I are starting a record label, Shire Recorders, and this is going to be the label's first release.”

The stunning collection has been turning heads already. “French King plays like a novella, a story of American grief and beliefs through darkness loyally following a strange, beautiful light,” says Shinyribs frontman and musical Renaissance man Kevin Russell. “The album spotlights faith tangled with betrayal and love's salvation.” “The French King Was Decapitated's listenability and Johnny Ray-like retro sound enhance Brown's solid songwriting like a Nudie Cohn suit,” echoes celebrated Daniel Johnston interpreter McCarty. “The French King Was Decapitated is a killer album.”

Quick background: Jefferson Brown pays bills as the bass player in the singular Austin, Texas soul-funk collective Shinyribs, who regularly tour nationwide and have performed at MerleFest, South by Southwest, Old Settlers and several other top festivals. He and his brother Ben lead the best kept under-the-radar indie rock secret in many moons with The Savage Poor. The French King Was Decapitated marks Brown's debut as a solo artist. The collection deftly frames his outlook in five vacuum-tight tracks. “I'm a romantic that believes that there is salvation through love, if not for the system, at least for the individual,” Brown explains. “There is still the possibility to find meaning, through everyday acts of kindness, even if one often feels that they are in the middle of a jet black cartoon.”

credits

released May 1, 2020

Recorded at The Shire in Austin, Texas
Produced by Mick Flowers
Engineered by Mick Flowers, Jared Wenkman
Mixed by Jared Wenkman at Shire Recorders
Mastered by Nick Joswick at 5th Street Studio in Austin, Texas

Musicians:
Jefferson Brown - lead and backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass
Mick Flowers - drums and percussion
Ben Brown - backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, synth, piano, xylophone

Additional musicians:

Kathy McCarty - backing vocals track 1
Randy Weeks - slide guitar track 1
Tiger Anaya - trumpet tracks 2 and 4
Jeff Loeb - electric guitar track 2
Mary Panjoma - backing vocals and synth tracks 3 and 4
Barbara Nesbitt - backing vocals tracks 5 and 6

All songs 2020 Shire Recorders

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