T. Graham Brown

T. Graham Brown rose to country stardom through the uniquely Southern phenomenon of beach music, a party-ready mix of old-time rock & roll, R&B, country and blues. Born in Arabi, GA, he started performing while attending the University of Georgia, as part of the beach-music duo Dirk & Tony. Since then he has penned several hit country songs and has collected twelve Top 10 hits, a CMA Award and a long list of national radio and television jingles including: Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Budweiser, Ford Trucks, Harrah’s Casinos and 7-Up. He has earned the recognition in the Commercial Hall of Fame in Chicago as the face and voice of Taco Bell’s “Run For The Border” campaign for four consecutive years.

In 1986, his debut album I’ll Tell It Like It Used To Be had a number one country single “Hell or High Water,” and both the title track and “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again” went Top 10. Brown has had many other chart-topping songs such as “Darlene,” “The Last Resort,” “If You Could See Me Now” and his duet with Tanya Tucker “Don’t Go Out.” Brown returned in 1998 after some time off and topped the Christian Country Music chart with “Wine Into Water.” Brown’s latest CD release is The Present.

Steve Cropper

Steve Cropper is regarded as the most well-known and influential Soul guitarist. In 1996, he was named the greatest living guitar player. As a guitarist, engineer, songwriter, and A&R man, Cropper was one the founding members of Booker T. & the MGs and The Mar-Key’s. He was involved in virtually every record produced by Stax. Cropper was born on a farm outside of Dora, MO, but at age 9 his family moved to Memphis, TN. He received his first guitar at age 14 and has been playing ever since.

Besides his influential work with the MGs and The Mar-Key’s during the sixties, Cropper co-wrote “Knock On Wood” with Eddie Floyd, “In The Midnight Hour” with Wilson Pickett and “(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay” with Otis Redding. “(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay” alone has been played over six million times, making it the sixth most played song of all time (and the ASCAP catalog’s second most). In the late seventies, Cropper and Duck Dunn became members of (The Band’s drummer) Levon Helm’s RCO All-Stars, and they went on to lead The Blues Brothers with Al Jackson protégé, drummer Willie Hall. This led to several albums and two movies.

Gary Nicholson

Gary Nicholson is asongwriter, a two-time Grammy-winning producer, a world traveling performer, recording artist and session guitarist. He has received 26 ASCAP awards. In 2006, he was nominated to the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Over 400 of his songs have been recorded in various genres including country, rock, blues, folk, bluegrass, and pop by such diverse artists as BB King, Garth Brooks, Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Etta James, John Prine, Dixie Chicks, Stevie Nicks, Emmylou Harris, Keb’ Mo’, George Jones, the Neville Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Del McCoury, Guy Clark and so many more.

In addition to his Grammy-winning records with Delbert McClinton, who has recorded 25 of his songs, he has produced records for The Judds, Wynonna, Pam Tillis, T. Graham Brown, Chris Knight and others. His songs have been included in many major motion pictures and television.

Gary and his wife Barbara live in Nashville, Tennessee and have four sons.