Cam Brown has played guitar and sung for over 50 years. Brought up in E. Lancs then Liverpool, he moved to Surrey in 1963 and started playing with a group at school called The Cyclones, who still play together occasionally with a repertoire almost unchanged since the early days. As a sixteen-year-old in 1964 he sang at Epsom Folk Club (Paul Simon topped the bill that night) where he later heard Steve Benbow and Diz Disley both of whom introduced him to the traditional comic, non-PC folk song genre which, along with the more contemporary music of Jake Thackray, George Melly, Paddy Roberts etc is now the core of his repertoire.
After university, where he studied German philology and linguistics, he was too busy making a living to take performing seriously though he’d play at the odd pub or folk club singers’ night.
For the past 25 years he has been a publisher and occasional writer having, to his embarrassment these days, started out as a banker. Publishing is a business where you can drift into retirement, rather than stopping from one day to the next, so over the past few years he has been playing more frequently. He runs a regular open mic night at The Chelsea Arts Club (for members only) and made his first CD, optimistically titled Cam Brown Sings vol 1, in 2013. He also plays harmonica & guitar and sings in a blues band called SCRAM.
Cam has an extensive repertoire of witty and funny songs organized into themes – social attitudes, drink, sex, and so on. His set includes traditional ballads and poems picked up in those early folk club days and sometimes embellished, rewritten or set to a tune of his own, but also the lively chansons of Jake Thackray and the gently rude humour of Paddy Roberts. This is not a finger-in-the-ear old folkie, but an accomplished guitar player who loves to entertain.
Comments from some recent venues:
“Cam’s set is sometimes bawdy, often non-PC but is guaranteed to have you leave with a smile on your face” Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre, Walton on Thames
“Cam’s always welcome to play here” The Spotted Dog, Dorking
“We don’t know how to stop him playing here” Chelsea Arts Club
" Cam has been our guest on many occasions and I can only praise his charm and tenacity in all the music he produces. He has a flair for comedy but get him to play a blues harp and he will have you spellbound. A great performer not to be missed" Mike Peach, The Anchor Folk Club, Byfleet.
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