Tony Brown Honored For 50-Year Career In Music
With five decades of music under his belt, and over 30 years spent as a producer, theres much to say about the life and times of Tony Brown.
He’s produced over 100 No. 1 songs, was president of MCA Nashville, and received the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 for producing and engineering.
In 2024, he even won the ACM Icon Award.
“Brown championed unconventional singer-songwriters as well as mainstream hitmakers, significantly shaping the sound of modern country music,” wrote the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Lyle Lovett‘s 1987 album Pontiac, Vince Gill’s 1989 album When I Call Your Name, George Strait‘s 1992 album Pure Country, Reba McEntire’s 1995 album Starting Over, and countless others all share that they were produced by Brown.
On Sunday, October 19, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025, which also included Kenny Chesney and the late June Carter Cash.
Present to honor Brown was one of his frequent collaborators: George Strait.
George Strait Sings “Troubadour” At Country Music Hall Of Fame
Since his 13th studio album, Pure Country, released in 1992, George Strait has released 19 studio albums, and 17 of those were produced by Tony Brown.
Including a live album and two Christmas albums, Strait and Brown have worked on 20 albums together.
Of that accomplishment, Brown said on his Facebook page in 2024, “I always wanted to have one more shot at producing George, and with [Cowboys and Dreamers] being my 20th album with him, it feels like a full-circle moment, especially with the success of his sold-out stadium tours. This may be the best moment of all.”
It was fitting, then, that Strait would be on hand to honor Brown… after all, even the “King of Country” needs a kingmaker.
The title track to the Brown-produced 2008 album Troubadour, which won Strait his first Grammy, the Grammy for Best Country Album, was Strait’s selection to perform in honor of Tony Brown.
At the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony, the lyrics to “Troubadour” were particularly poignant, with Strait singing:
“I was a young troubadour when I rode in on a song, and I’ll be an old troubadour when I’m gone.”
Watch some of his Country Music Hall of Fame performance of “Troubadour” in the second slide of Strait’s social media post, here:
Revisit the music video for “Troubadour, here:
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