Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993 TAG: 9306230148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Between the Infants and Toddlers section and Lingerie, Marty Brown is seeing America like no one else.
And America is seeing him.
Brown is what they call an up-and-coming country singer. He has a couple of albums out, a few videos, and his face and his name are vaguely familiar to country music fans.
But he is far from a household word.
So, his record company, MCA Records in Nashville, got to thinking. How can we get Marty out there to the people?
Through Wal-Mart, naturally. What better place?
Brown then hit the road, touring 40 Wal-Mart stores across the South to promote his debut album, "High and Dry," in 1991. He'd sing some songs, sign autographs, pose for pictures; and everybody was happy all around.
The fans got Brown Wal-Mart got shoppers, MCA sold records and Brown got invaluable exposure. Even People magazine picked up on the novelty, dubbing Brown "Wal-Mart Marty."
In country music, it was a promotional coup.
Suddenly, Brown started selling more records than other artists who were better-known. Country radio started getting more requests. The Wal-Mart audiences grew.
It was a good match, too.
"It gets you out there to the real people - the people who buy a lot of records," Brown said Tuesday afternoon before an appearance at the Wal-Mart in Roanoke.
Brown, 27, has undertaken a second Wal-Mart tour to support his second album, "Wild Kentucky Skies." This was the first time he had visited Roanoke.
He said Wal-Mart shoppers are no different from him. He comes from a small town, Maceo, Ky., which he said has a railroad crossing, a post office and not much else.
But Wal-Mart was just down the road. He worked there once, assembling bicycles and store displays.
"I've shopped at Wal-Mart my whole life. I still do," he said.
Indeed, Brown sported a pair of work boots bought the night before at a Wal-Mart in Lynchburg. He said he disdains any kind of Nashville cowboy glitter.
"I don't wear no shirts that look like they've been starched for five weeks or no belt buckles that look like dinner plates."
He added later: "I wear country clothes, like Wal-Mart sells."
The 50 or so people who came out to see Brown on Tuesday found his homespun charm endearing.
"He's just got that attitude, `I'm a good old country boy out here trying to turn people on to my music,' " observed Steve Barranco, 24, who had come from Blacksburg for Brown's appearance.
Appropriately, Barranco also picked up some fishing supplies while in the store. Brown is an avid fisherman who wrote and recorded a song titled, "I'd Rather Fish Than Fight."
"This man is just like he says. He's not a fake," said Donna Dudding of Blue Ridge, still reeling from a hug she got from Brown.
"I could have fell on the floor," she said.
It was only a friendly hug, though. Brown is engaged to be married in August to a woman from back home. "She's a good country girl," he said. "I met her at the Dairy Queen."
Good-looking, too. "Pretty as a speckled pup," he said.
Brown almost gave up his singing career. Three years ago, he stopped his regular trips to Nashville and started training as a plumber's helper. Then he got laid off.
That same night, he paid a guy $20 to drive him to Nashville. He slept that night in a Nashville alley. No big deal, he said. "I did that on my creek bank all the time back home."
The next day, carrying his guitar, a change of clothes and his pillow, he made the rounds to the record labels. "I know they thought I was a hobo," he said.
Somehow, Brown caught the attention of a talent scout, who gave him $100 and put him up at a motel. His demo tape, recorded into a cassette recorder in his mother's bathroom, ended up in the hands of MCA Records.
Ten days later, Brown had a record contract.
He hasn't slept in any alleys since.
He's seen plenty of Wal-Mart stores, though.
"They all smell alike after a while," he said.
He wouldn't mind seeing more, either. He hopes to continue touring Wal-Mart, even if he becomes a big name in country music. What better way to see the country - and keep in touch with its people?
Brown likes to share his story about the man who presented him with a puzzling metal tool during a Wal-Mart stop in Hazard, Ky. It was a moonshine corker. The man gave it to Brown as a way of thanks for his music, and specifically his song, "High and Dry."
"He said he played it every time he made a batch."
by CNB