Patrick Brayer
Sinner / Songwriter
Patrick Brayer was born on January 1, 1954, the day that
Hank Williams died, and the same year that the Stratocaster was introduced to
America by Leo Fender in nearby Fullerton California (originally intended for
country music, much like Patrick himself). He grew up on an egg ranch in a
little steel mill town called Fontana, California, a cultural conclave in the
desert famous for its part in the Sunkist fruit orchard industry, the origins of
the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, the making of Liberty Ships in World War II,
and the F
ontana
Drag Strip. Although through his songs and music he has played a hand in about
15 or so Grammy Awards and Gold and Platinum records he has managed to somehow
survive unscathed by the commerciality of his profession, and in the infancy of
this century rises above the ashes of 36 years of daily writing songs so as to
appear a tiny bit heroic in the world of songsmiths His songs have been recorded
by such as Alison Krauss, John Doe, Larry Sparks, Stuart Duncan, and one song as
yet unreleased covered by Reba MacEntire (How psychedelic is that on a
Shakespearean ‘rebel without a clause’ level?) “My songs have a much more
interesting life than I do” says Brayer, “and I'd like to keep it that
way” There are 48 Volumes of Brayer’s private recordings available (The
Secret Hits of Patrick Brayer) and two outside compilations,
Sinner/Songwriter (Aim Recording Company), and
Catholic and Western Fabuli (the pilot project for Ben Harper’s Inland
Emperor Records, available from benharper.net). At the time of his tragic death
in 1997, guitar icon Michael Hedges was producing a recording of Brayer in his
sequoia forest studio in Mendocino, California, those “sacred” tapes are yet to
be released. Patrick has appeared on several projects with longtime friend Ben
Harper, The Will to Live (Virgin Records), and the Waylon Jennings
tribute album I’m Still Crazy (RCA), as well as his appearances beside
Shawn Colvin, Susanne Vega, and Dave Van Ronk on the compilation Fast Folk: a
community of songwriters (Smithsonian Institute), and his liner notes for
Mike Marshall and Darol Angers CD At Home and On the Range (Compass
Records) sum up perhaps the most psychedelic thoughts ever uttered in the annals
of Bluegrass history. “My influences are my friends
mainly, people such as Chris Darrow (Linda Rondstadt, Leonard Cohen) , Kim
Fowley (The Mayor of Sunset Strip), Robb Strandland (The Eagles), Eddie
Cunningham (Ben E. King), and John York (The Byrds) just to spot a few. We
have a sort of a songwriting circle out here that is as of yet rather invisible,
though with projects such as David Lynch’s new movie Inland Empire, and
Kim Fowley’s Jukebox California i think things are starting to point in
our direction a tad.”
Patrick Brayer can be contacted at: brayer@gte.net
official website: http://home1.gte.net/brayer/index.html
photo credit: eddie cunningham / kim fowley's casa, redlands, californ
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a cool email from pat
king edward /
thanks a ton for including me in your site / it looks good / it is wider than my
screen though and you have to scroll right at the end of every line / you might
have a wider screen than us simpletons / you don’t want to have to make the
people work any harder than they have to to get through a guy like mine’s boring
life saga / the last phone message i got from fowley indicated that there are
now puppets involved in our gangster opus, outlaws in america / will the
shame never cease / no business like show business i’m guessing / i’m here
mixing my new shit / come on by for a visit on one of your to and fro’s through
the inland umpire / are we famous yet? / find attached a photo i took of you on
penny’s farm / hope you like / keep me abreast to your happenings / soon
your pal in songship,
patrick of brayer
clownmont, ca
