Sawyer Brown

The world of Sawyer Brown is filled with dirt roads, small towns, little thrills, tiny moments and intimate connections... but mostly, it's about recognition of how major those things really can be: every day people seeing themselves in each other, the 5 men onstage and their songs. For the Apopka, Florida-bred band, these are songs of the common man delivered without mercy, only a relentless commitment to the freedom and fun that only a night out among good friends can allow.

"We got some tall tales that we love to tell
May not be true, but we sure do remember'em well
We work real hard to have a little fun
Roll up our sleeves & get the job done..."
-- "The Boys & Me"

"We came out of the notion we were there to entertain people, to make sure everybody had a good time," concedes creative catalyst Miller, known as much for his hyperkinetic performances as for writing "Some Girls Do," "The Dirt Road," "Hard To Say," "Step That Step," "This Time," "The Boys & Me," "Thank God For You" and "The Walk." "You're looking at a bunch of blue collar people here, who were raised to put the work in, to make sure the people are satisfied and who really love being on that stage and seeing the people letting it all go. Somebody once told me `If you can't have fun at a Sawyer Brown show, you can't have fun...' I don't know, but it would sure be nice if it was true."

After 23 years, 3500+ shows, gold and platinum albums, a smattering of awards and more long odds than any act you can think of, Sawyer Brown remains a band you can count on. Never ones to get above their raising, they have a deep appreciation for the heart of small towns, rural realities, lives lived in common places and truths so basic they go unnoticed.

But along the way, while all kinds of acts were racing by and then falling by the by, Mark Miller and company were amassing a string of hits that defined the worldview of regular people living between the coasts - people ignored by the media mongers and tastemakers. Along with the aforementioned Miller-penned hits, there were plenty of other big records "Betty's Being Bad," "The Café On the Corner," "All These Years," "Used To Blue," "Heart Don't Fall Now," "This Thing Called Wanting (And Having It All)," "This Night Won't Last Forever," "Leona" and "Treat Her Right" as well as fearless attacks on classics like George Jones' "The Race Is On" and Dave Dudley's truckers' rallying cry "6 Days On The Road." where they bounce up and down on the mainframe like a trampoline -- tattooing their trademark high energy, utterly committed performances onto country radio's somewhat conservative sound.

"It was a different time," remembers bassist Jim Scholten. "People thought we were too different, too outside the box... and it took a lot to get us happening. But we were about playing, 5 sets a night anywhere they'd let us, until `Star Search' happened. Even then, we were signed out of L.A. But we knew one thing: we knew that the people, especially the country music fans, loved what we were doing."

"It's hard and heavy, Lord, day and night
It's the way we love and that's the way we fight
We can't stay together, can't be alone
We can go for good, but we can't stay gone..."
-- "This Time"

Whether the little band who auditioned for "Star Search" solely to get the videotape to send to prospective buyers, but then went on to win the whole thing - becoming the original "American Idols" in the process -- were unlikely country stars or not, they had a lot of heart and they never gave up. It's been one of the defining truths of a career that's always been about taking it to the people... and not getting caught up in the popularity contests on Music Row. Hide