Biography

Issued privately in the fall of 1977, Charles Brown’s “I Just Want To Talk To You” is the story of a record made in the closet that went straight back into an actual closet. “I was crazy about him. I longed for him,” Brown recalled of bassist Greg Hardin, “not just physically but intellectually as well. It was exactly what I was feeling and since I didn’t have many ways to express those kinds of feelings back then, writing these songs was my only outlet. I felt vulnerable and scared. There wasn’t much of a support system where I was back then for people to come out of the closet.” Born on April Fools day in 1959, Brown’s parents were both Korean War vets stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. Not having a musically rich upbringing meant that Brown didn’t really have any drive to write songs until he was a freshman in highschool, becoming inspired to pick up a guitar and sing for the first time after venturing into Georgetown, Washington D.C. with his parents to see Doc Watson perform at The Cellar Door in 1975. Even though he may have been considered a late bloomer, his aptitude towards songwriting was in full bloom nonetheless. Thus began perhaps the most musically prolific period of Brown’s musical career. “The songs just started to flow right outta me, even I couldn’t tell you where they were comin’ from,” Brown said.