Greg Brown – Laughing River

CB featured a video of Greg Brown live with guitar player Bo Ramsey. The venue looked like a small club, and with just those two, the sound was huge. I started to listen to Brown’s catalog around two weeks ago. His songs are a lot to take in lyrically, which immediately hooked me. As with several artists lately, picking one song is hard. If you like storytelling, then Greg Brown is your guy. 

This song makes me feel good. I love the baseball metaphors and imagery that he uses and the total mood of the song. This song was covered back in 2022 by Seth Avett. Seth made an album called Seth Avett Sings Greg Brown…an album with all of Brown’s songs. A truly beautiful song. 

He got the inspiration for the song during a road trip through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He saw a sign for Laughing River that was likely referring to the Laughing Whitefish River near Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park, and composed the song on the hood of his car. It was originally released in 1992 on his Dream Café album. 

Brown is from Iowa, and he grew up in a musical household. His father was a preacher, and his mother sang and played guitar. He was influenced by country, gospel, and blues and locked into the folk music scene of the 1960s. He worked with Eric Andersen and Odetta, and even had a stint as the musical director for the Public Radio International show A Prairie Home Companion.

One artist Brown influenced was Iris DeMent, whom Brown later married. He has been compared to Leonard Cohen, John Prine, and Bob Dylan, but his voice sets him apart. Brown has released over 30 studio and live albums combined. 

Laughing River

I’m goin away,
’cause I gotta busted heart.
I’m leavin’ today,
if my Travel All will start.
And I reckon where I’m headed,
I might need me different clothes–
way up in Michigan,
where the Laughing River flows.

Twenty years in the minor leagues–
ain’t no place I didn’t go.
Well I gotta few hits,
but I never made the show.
And I could hang on for a few years,
doin what I’ve done before.
I wanna hear the Laughing River,
flowin’ right outside my door.

My cousin Ray,
said he’s got a job for me.
Where the houses are cheap,
and he knows this nice lady.
He said she even saw me play once,
said she smiled at my name.
Well upon the Laughing River,
could be a whole new game.

So goodbye to the bus.
Good bye to payin’ dues.
Goodbye to the cheers,
and goodbye to the booze.
well I’m trading in this old bat,
for a fishing pole.
I’m gonna let the Laughing River,
flow right into my soul.

I’m goin away,
’cause I gotta busted heart.
I’m leavin’ today,
if my Travel All will start.
And I reckon where I’m headed,
I might need me different clothes–
way up in Michigan,
where the Laughing River flows.

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

36 thoughts on “Greg Brown – Laughing River”

  1. Pingback: Greg Brown – Laughing River – MobsterTiger

    1. I like the baseball stuff as well. I’m not sure if that is a metaphor or about an actual minor leaguer…probably a little bit of both. He has a lot of story songs that I like.

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  11. One I’ll definitely check out more of. Great simple songwriting – and I mean that in a good way, simple, to the point, but effective as Hell. Good melody, good voice. Everything fits his troubadour style. Thanks for this, he seems a hidden gem so far.

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    1. CB turned me on to him a while back…I’ve been listening to him since then…he has some great story songs obbverse…he is worthy of checking out.

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  12. In the late ’80s, early ’90s, when I was really getting fed up with the popular music charts, I started to get heavily into folk, blues, and world music, etc. Probably what would now be called Americana. I was listening to a lot of folk music shows on Public radio, and was exposed to Greg Brown and others of the new breed of folk singers. I have the collection shown on the YouTube video, and two or three other CDs of his. I love Iris Dement too. I put her voice in the same category as Emmylou Harris and Nancy Griffith. Covenant is a very good album of his.

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    1. For some reason female singers with “great” voices or the normal phrasing…I don’t like as much but with Iris, Emmylou, and Nancy I like a lot because they sound different….if that makes any sense.
      It’s like Michael Bolton…who is said to have a “good” voice…I don’t like at all…because I couldn’t tell you who is singing…there is no distinction….this probably isn’t making sense lol. It’s hard to put in words. I like voices with a different quality….Janis, Tanya Tucker, Iris is a good example…she doesn’t sound like everyone else.

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      1. I agree. If you’d like to hear someone else with a distinctive voice, check out Bill Morrissey. Sadly, he passed away several years ago, but he and Greg Brown were contemporaries.

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    1. Cool CB…it’s got a good response. I held Mr. Brown back for a while to get more familiar with his catalog…he is The Storyteller!

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