1988

RODNEY CROWELL

I first met Rodney Crowell after joining Emmylou Harris’s The Hot Band in 1977. Emmy’s husband and producer at the time, Brian Ahern, was producing Rodney’s first Warner Brothers album. Emmylou was already doing many of Rodney’s songs in her set, so I first came to know him as a songwriter.

I wouldn’t get to work with him until Emmylou came off the road to have babies, and The Cherry Bombs were born out of the desire the old Hot Band members had to play. So, we played our first gig at a club in Redondo Beach, California, with Rodney Crowell—thus was the birth of The Cherry Bombs.

The Cherry Bombs was my last gig as a musician. After playing with that band, nothing else would be good enough! Rodney and I both had our first gold record successes when I produced his album Diamonds & Dirt in 1988. Rodney still continues to record, write, and just be the iconic singer-songwriter he has become. As a friend, he also became one of my “life advisors.” After my brain injury, Rodney helped me recover emotionally and gave me some good advice, which I follow to this day.

“It would take five of everybody else in the music business to equal one of Tony Brown.”

Rodney Crowell

My favorite songs written by Rodney Crowell

“Leaving Louisiana” (Recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys)

“Shame on the Moon” (Recorded by Bob Seger)

“Till I Gain Control” (Recorded by Willie Nelson/Emmylou Harris)

“Please Remember Me” (Recorded by Tim McGraw)

“Ain’t Living Long Like This” (Recorded by Waylon Jennings)

“Stars on the Water” (Recorded by George Strait)

“Seven Year Ache” (Recorded by Rosanne Cash)

“I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried” (Recorded by Rodney Crowell)