314 RENOWNED PRODUCER TONY BROWN TO OFFER 2007 SUNTRUST LECTURE

April 3 MTSU Visit to Feature Talk by Award-Winning Music Row Mogul

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Bob Wood, 615-898-2532

(MURFREESBORO)—Famed music industry executive Tony Brown, producer of more than 100 No. 1 hit singles and winner of more than a dozen Grammy, CMA, ACM and American Music Awards, will share his expertise and experiences with MTSU Tuesday, April 3, as part of the 2007 SunTrust Lecture Series.
During his visit to campus, Brown, who is nominated for three 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards at the upcoming May 15 ACMs, will present a free lecture for students in MTSU's Department of Recording Industry and the public.
Brown’s visit, made possible through the support of SunTrust Bank, is set for 7 p.m. in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building.
“Tony has been very generous with his time and has visited the MTSU recording industry department whenever we have asked him,” said Dr. Bob Wood, coordinator of production and technology for the department.
“His commitment to helping educate the next generation of music industry professionals is laudable, and our recording industry students profit immeasurably from the advice of such an industry luminary.”
Brown, a native of North Carolina, was the son of an evangelist and played piano in his family’s gospel group as a teenager. That experience helped him land a touring job with the Oak Ridge Boys and ultimately put him on the piano bench for Elvis Presley’s final U.S. tour. He then joined Emmylou Harris’s famous “Hot Band” and played piano for bandmate Rodney Crowell’s Cherry Bombs when Crowell went solo.
Brown soon wound up in Nashville working A&R for RCA Records and was asked to produce gospel singer Shirley Caesar in 1983. That work got him noticed by then-MCA chief Jimmy Bowen, whose mentorship helped to guide Brown’s talent and experience onto the road that led to the president’s office at MCA Nashville in 1993 and work with blockbusters like Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna as well as favorites like Steve Earle, Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith and The Mavericks.
In 2002, Brown joined pal Tim DuBois to found Universal South Records, aiming to create what they said would be “a home for truly inventive, highly creative artists.” The pair stepped down from the label last December, with Brown saying he wanted to devote himself once again to full-time music production.
Brown’s 2007 ACM nominations, announced earlier this month, include Album of the Year for Brooks & Dunn’s “Hillbilly Deluxe” and for George Strait’s “It Just Comes Natural,” Single of the Year for Strait’s “Give It Away” and Vocal Event of the Year for “Building Bridges” with Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow.
Brown also is the reigning Country Music Association producer for “Believe,” the 2006 Single of the Year by Brooks & Dunn.

For more information about the visit, contact Wood at 615-898-2532.
MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry in the College of Mass Communication is one of the largest and best equipped in the nation. The Rolling Stone College Guide has called it “one of the preeminent music business programs in the country.”
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NOTE: Media needing a B&W headshot of speaker Tony Brown should contact the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Thanks!