Bob Brown was raised in Clinton, Maryland and attended the University of Maryland. As a folk guitarist, pianist, and songwriter he played the local coffee houses and eventually continued up and down the east coast. He performed at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Bob became friends with Richie Havens whom he toured with and eventually released two albums on Havens’ Stormy Forest label. “The Wall I Built Myself” in 1970 featured Brown with Joe Clark (keyboards, sax), Orin Smith (guitar), Marshall Hawkins (bass), Bill Lavorgna (drums), and Roland Henderson (viola, violin) with songs written by Brown and David Franks.
The album “Willoughby’s Lament” was released in 1971 and featured Brown (guitar, piano, vocals), Bill Keith (guitar), Richie Havens (backing vocals, producer), Eddie Gomez (bass), Lorna Beard (violin), Joe Clark (piano, percussion, vibraphone), Rusty Clark (viola), Aleta Greene (backing vocals), Eric Oxendine (bass), Orin Smith (guitar), and Rob Windsor (drums, percussion).
from “Willoughby’s Lament” LP
Locally Brown could be seen at the Classroom in Baltimore, the Cellar Door in D.C., and many college concerts and festivals. His band members also included Terry Plumeri (bass) who had formerly worked with Greg Kihn…
Aleta Greene had provided backing vocals on Brown’s albums and teamed up with Bob in the summer of 1974 as a duo. She also sang with Meg Christian (traveling to NY and releasing an album), Tugboat, and did some recordings with Little Hans. Bob and Aleta opened for Harry Chapin at Gaston Hall (U of MD) in October ‘74. They also opened for Bonnie Raitt, Jim Croce, Randy Newman, and others.
Greene (see bio) went on to sing for O’Donel Levy, Special Edition, the Downstairs Band, Greg Kihn, Bona Fide… Plumeri, a highly accomplished acoustic bassist later led his own band releasing many critically acclaimed jazz albums, and worked artists such as Brenda Alford, National Symphony Orchestra (D.C.), the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra…
1970(LP) Stormy Forest 6007 The Wall I Built Myself
1971(LP) Stormy Forest 6008 Willoughby’s Lament
