Living The Life Of Music

Dewey and Leslie Brown are truly living the life of music. Dewey, a fiddler, played in Dr. Ralph Stanley’s band as a Clinch Mountain Boy for 12 years, until Ralph’s death in 2016. Dewey started playing in high school with the band Blue Ridge. In 1999 Dewey won first place at the Old Time Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, VA. He was just 17 at the time. “Traveling and playing with Dr. Ralph, Dewey got to experience a lot of things most people don’t get to experience,” Leslie said.

Over the years, he has also played with artists like Honi Denton, Charlie Waller & the Country Gentlemen, and IIIrd Time Out. Dewey has recorded on Grammy nominated albums with artists such as Josh Turner, Dierks Bentley, Lee Ann Womack and many more. He also owns and manages a music store, Dewey Brown’s Music and Lessons, where they live in Burlington, NC.

Leslie grew up in the coal mining town of Vansant, VA, in the Appalachian Mountains, where she was raised by her grandparents. Bluegrass music was always a way of life for them. When Leslie was seven, she started clogging at local bluegrass festivals, and soon joined a square dance group. She began traveling with them professionally soon after. But it was that life in the Appalachian Mountains that often influences her song writing. “I actually grew up going to the same church as Dr. Ralph,” Leslie recalled.

Leslie and Dewey married in 2007. Leslie, a nurse by trade, wasn’t actively involved in music until about 2014, when they purchased The Liberty Showcase Theater. “Dewey could tell Ralph was slowing down, and he wanted to protect the music and be able to do something in the industry after that run was over,” Leslie said. They also produced DeweyFest for five years, and more recently, GospelFest on their 52 acre farm.

Dewey and Leslie formed a new band recently, Dewey and Leslie Brown and the Carolina Gentlemen. They have just released their debt CD, Under The Mountain.

To find out more, visit
www.deweyandlesliebrown.com