A band founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1970 by original drummer Steve Holmes, BUSTER BROWN, with a formative roster involving Holmes, guitarist Kenny Lee Smith, bassist Rico Thomas and singer Bobby Richey, spent a good deal of time in clubs in Washington D.C. and Maryland. Kenny Lee Smith and Rico Thomas opted out to form Cincinnati based BLACK MOUNTAIN BAND with Hal Neel on keyboards and Bill Lewis on drums. The guitarist then relocated again, to Bowling Green, Kentucky to head up Southern Rockers SLICKROCK.
BUSTER BROWN duly evolved and is now known for spawning latter day members vocalist Johnny Edwards and James Kottak on drums. Kottak had started drumming in bands at the age of 11. At 14 he was playing in a band called HOME and wound up in BUSTER BROWN after gaining a scholarship in music at the University Of Louisville.
However, BUSTER BROWN's debut album, 1984 'Loud And Clear', was recorded with a line-up comprising singer Johnny Edwards, guitarist Allan Phelps, bassist Kevin Downs and drummer Bob Koestle.
BUSTER BROWN was together for around a decade and Kottak and Edwards were in the group for the final two to three years of the group's existance. Kottak featured on the band's final opus, 'Sign Of Victory' in 1985.
After the group opened up on a string of East Coast dates for RONNIE MONTROSE, the guitarist produced one of the group's many demos and invited the group over to California to record the 'Mean' album. Johnny Edwards went on to join KING KOBRA and subsequently fronted FOREIGNER for their 'Unusual Heat' album, after which the singer headed up Alt-pop band ROYAL JELLY. James Kottak joined KINGDOM COME, WARRANT and SCORPIONS.
In later years Edwards, Steve Holmes and Kevin Downs reformed BUSTER BROWN for concerts in the Louisville, Kentucky area.
