Wynonna, Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett, Mo Pitney, and the notorious Curb Records

The seven-time Academy of Country Music Awards victor cites how the Keith Whitley-inspired Pitney was usurped by Luke Combs, confronts indie Nashville label head Mike Curb over unpaid production wages for Judd’s self-titled solo smash, Tim McGraw and Lovett’s exasperation with Curb’s iron-clad contract, and why he willingly released a ‘Honky Tonk Angel’ from her stagnant MCA deal

Image Credit: Tony Brown’s official Facebook

The Tony Brown Interview, Part Four

Longtime Los Angeles Times music editor Robert Hilburn published the ultimate Tony Brown profile in 1996. In “The Kingmaker of Country Music,” you stated, “Sometimes an artist just isn’t on the right label. It’s a sin to me the way that some labels hang onto them to spite the artist.” I interviewed Mo Pitney in October 2017, a year after his acclaimed debut LP Behind This Guitar dropped on the Nashville-based Curb label. You produced that Billboard Top Ten C&W record. After an agonizing four-year wait, Pitney’s follow-up materialized but any momentum was lost.