In many ways, T. Graham Brown is at the pinnacle of his 40+ year career. And as for him, there is only one thing to thank.
“None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been [my wife] Sheila and her love for me,” Brown, 69, tells PEOPLE just days after his long-awaited Grand Ole Opry induction. “There was a period of my life where I was time down. I was almost ready to die. I mean, I was in bad shape. And she stayed there. We have been together for 46 years.”
Perhaps this harsh reality is why the Georgia native seems to be in a fog of gratitude these days, as Brown not only relishes the recognition that comes as a member of the Grand Ole Opry after more than 300 appearances on the storied stage, but also relishes the time in which he releases perhaps his best music yet.
And he is doing all this on the threshold of his 70th birthday.
“I left Sheila a message before I went to sleep and I was just like, ‘Hey, we made it,'” exclaims the Grammy-nominated artist. “Seeing her so happy was the best thing. It makes me feel like a million bucks.”
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It’s a sentiment Brown admits he hasn’t always been able to feel, having long been open about the personal struggles he’s faced throughout his career.
“I was very close to death,” Brown recalls of his past mental health issues. “But now everything is better.” He pauses. “I make a living singing and I have a little bit of income from songs and every now and then I appear in a movie and I have my SiriusXM show Live wire. But our main thing is to help people get sober and educate people about mental illness. That’s really all we care about.”
T. Graham Brown.
Justin Hammond
It is this concern and this new place Brown finds himself in that can be heard in Brown’s beautiful performance of the Otis Redding classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with Randy Houser, premiering exclusively on PEOPLE.
“I love the way he sings,” Brown says of the “How Country Feels” hitmaker, 48. “We recorded the song at Randy’s house. He has a studio in his basement. I mean, we played golf together. We knew he was going to do it and I knew they were going to kill him.”
And Houser wasn’t the only one who killed him.
About Brown’s upcoming record From Memphis to Muscle ShoalsThe “I Tell It Like It Used to Be” hitmaker collaborates with some of the most famous voices on some of the most legendary tracks, from Tanya Tucker on “The Dark End of the Street” to Wynonna Judd on “Take Me to” rivers to Zach Williams on ” When a Man Loves a Woman”.
“I’ve wanted to make a soul album my whole life,” Brown says of the new album, which is due out this August. “I got into this business with Randy Travis, Marty Stuart, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless and Dwight Yoakam. We’ve all remained very good friends over the years. We still love each other, we’ve stayed in touch and we’re still pulling for each other. So when Dwight and I did ‘I’m Your Puppet,’ it felt like everything was starting for this record.”
Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and songwriter Bob McDill are inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
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From Memphis to Muscle Shoals by T. Graham Brown.
Justin Hammond
He is joined on the album by legendary artists such as Bettye LaVette, Delbert McClinton and Eddie Floyd.
“My reason for bringing in those ‘old’ guys was because I wanted to show the world that I could still carry the mail,” says Brown, who is currently on his “I Tell It Like It Used to Be” headlining tour and will also to play the Chevy Vibe Stage at CMA Fest next month.
“Their phones don’t ring very often on occasions with people asking them to sing. I think some of them feel forgotten. So it turns out I have all these great legends on this record and I really hope we can get Grammy nominations for some from these people. It won’t hurt my feelings if we don’t, but it would be really special.”
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Source: HIS Education