News

Welcome. Please make yourself at home here, and come back often. New to the site under the Journalism tab are some links to my radio stories, many of them relating to old time music. Included is a link to the series Honky Tonks, Hymns & the Blues, for which I served as executive editor and presenter.

I'm excited about a new recording out on the 5-String label. It's Benton Flippen & the Smokey Valley Boys: An Evening at WPAQ, 1984. Check out the details below. And check out the new page on Benton Flippen himself.

My bio section has some new material. And there are some details about recordings I've been on in the past, with more coming.

Also here you'll find a guide to my CD Red Clay Country, and a schedule of my upcoming music dates. I hope to see you at one of them. If you'd like me to perform in your area, please contact me. I'm a newscaster and journalist at NPR, so my time is a bit limited. But I do go quite a few places each year for concerts and workshops. So give me a try, and let's see what we can work out. Here's the e-mail address: pb@brownpaul.net

Recently Released

"Fabulous new album!"

Benton Flippen & Smokey Valley Boys: An Evening at WPAQ: 1984

5SP08004

Don't miss this one: the first digital reissue of a wonderful 1984 session with Benton Flippen & the Smokey Valley Boys. It.s an exciting selection of dance tunes and songs recorded at Radio Station WPAQ when this old time band was at a peak. Personnel were Benton on fiddle; Verlen Clifton, mandolin; Paul Sutphin, guitar and vocals; Frank Bode, guitar and vocals; and me on banjo.

This album contains songs and tunes not previously released on the small-circulation, no-label cassette we put out back in '84. And I've written new notes I think you'll enjoy.

Buy it directly from me at pb@brownpaul.net or through the label, 5-String Productions or other retailers.