Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

BROOKS, Colin

Colin Brooks describes himself as a ‘slinger-songwriter'. He is fond of good sippin' tequila, and has worked extensively as a (generous) sideman, playing musical chairs with the other guys on stage. He plays lap steel and dobro as well as guitar.

Brooks came to Austin Texas in 2002 from New Mexico via New York, where he had just finished his first CD, Chippin' Away At The Promised Land. That album included drummer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Sheryl Crow), and bassists Sara Lee (Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls) and Tony Levin (Gabriel, King Crimson). In 2002 Brooks won a songwriters Hall of Fame Abe Olman scholarship; then, following in the steps of Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Shawn Colvin, Nanci Griffith, Slaid Cleaves and many others, he was a Kerrville New Folk award winner in 2003. His second album, Blood and Water, was mostly solo, an acoustic set exquisitely produced in 2005 by drummer Eldridge Goins (Guy Forsyth, Patrice Pike).

In October 2005 Brooks was working with Austin's favorite chanteuse, Toni Price, in Fredericksburg Texas. His songs and his delivery of them have been much praised; anybody who has worked in so much fast company is likely to have considerable staying power.