Anthony Graham Brown, 30 October 1954, Arabi, Georgia, USA. As much a southern R&B singer as a country singer-songwriter, Brown was at school in Athens, Georgia, with members of the B-52's. He earned extra money singing cover versions in lounge bars, until he saw a television documentary on David Allen Coe, after which he formed Rio Diamond, an "outlaw" band, in 1976. By 1979, he was fronting T. Graham Brown's Rack Of Spam, a white soul band, singing Otis Redding material.

In 1982, he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a demo singer, recording songs for publishers who wanted famous artists to record their copyrighted material. A song he demoed as "1962" was later recorded by Randy Travis as "1982", but more lucrative was the use of his voice on jingles for products such as Budweiser beer and McDonald hamburgers.

Signed to a major label in 1985, he was known as T. Graham Brown to avoid confusion with the noted Nashville producer Tony Brown. His first album I Tell It Like It Used To Be, included two US country number 1 singles, "Hell Or High Water" and "Don't Go To Strangers", and he returned to the top again in 1988 with "Darlene". His albums were never huge hits, however, and an attempt to penetrate the European market in the late 80s was unsuccessful.

After leaving Capitol Records in the early 90s, Brown spent a fruitless period moving between different labels before signing with the independent Intersound and releasing a strong comeback album, Wine Into Water. The title-track dealt frankly with Brown's fight against.