Brown's Bag

Chicago neo-soul duo Brown's Bag paired Ward Brown and Sherrod Brown (no relation), both longtime veterans of the Windy City music scene. According to Bob Mehr's profile in the June 30, 2006, edition of the Chicago Reader, Ward Brown grew up next door to blues immortal Muddy Waters, and spent the 1970s and early '80s performing with his siblings in a series of R&B show bands; in 1983 he signed as a staff writer with the local Black Hole label, and a decade later founded his own studio, Early Park Limited. Sherrod Brown was one of the studio's first clients. The son of Lyric Opera mainstay Willie Brown, he honed his skills as a pianist, composer, and arranger for hire before teaming with Ward Brown in 1995 to form the R&B group King Kat. When Sherrod relocated to Florida they lost contact, but upon his return to Chicago in 2001, they resumed their partnership, summoning the spirit of old-school Chicago soul to write and record the first Brown's Bag LP Labor of Love, issued in late 2005 on the tiny indie Bush Man Entertainment. Despite an initial pressing of only 1,000 copies, the album earned a rabid cult following in Europe, and in the summer of 2006, Brown's Bag made its live debut in London.