Brown was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and started out backing Johnny Otis. It was playing with Etta James that he swapped his Les Paul for an ES-175 and began creating his own guitar sound. Later he settled in Los Angeles and met Bob Thiele, with whom he recorded his first record “Chicken Fat”. Though mainly a blues and R&B player, Brown also turned his hand to jazz and soul-jazz styles, and played with the Oliver Nelson Big Band. Alongside his sizable discography, there is also a documentary about his life, “Love Lost and Found".