 and welcome to this episode of the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. I am your host, Wendell and Harris. My guest today is a two-time Grammy-winning musician, guitarist and producer who hails from Jamaica, who has spent the past two decades building a name for himself and has cemented a prime position as the go-to guitarist for a smooth, notable project. His sound is marked by a primary influences that fuse jazz, reggae and rock. He has played and toured with Mati Alexander, Julian Marley and Damien Dong Marley, the sons of the late reggae icon Bob Marley, Shaggy, Diana King, Lauren Hill, Maxie Priest, and the list goes on. His latest album, Cliff Marley Tosh, is currently in the Grammy consideration phase of voting at the recording academy. I am so happy to have him here today. Let's welcome all the way from Jamaica, Mr. Robert DeWise Brownie to the show. Aloha, how are you? Hi, Greta, I'm good, I'm good. How are you? I am so well. I am so glad to have you here on the show all the way from Jamaica. Yes, yes, yes, sunny, sunny, hot Jamaica. Well, thank you so much for being here with us today. Let's get this train started, you know, like I like to say. What or who got you started in the music industry? How did you get to the beginning? Well, it's a family thing, you know, because I grew up in a family of musicians. My dad and uncles, they were all a band, you know, and they're all musicians. And if you're familiar with the Jamaican music industry, you know, there's Cliffy Brownie from Steelie and Cliffy, which was a production duo with many hits from the 80s coming up. Danny Brownie, same thing, producer, guitarist, Dalton Brownie, also guitarist. Glenn Brownie, my father, is a bass player and my uncle Noel, keyboard player. So they were all musicians and they had a band, Brownie bunch. And so watching them as I grew up, you know, it's just what I wanted to do. And that's what I ended up doing. So early on, the influence was by, you know, family, pretty much. Your family. Yeah. So, but how did you get to start? How did you start playing the guitar? Oh, wow. My first instrument is drums, actually. And as a young age, before I was 10, you know, I was playing the drums. But my father brought a guitar to the house. I didn't grow up with my dad. I grew up with my mom. My mom grew me. But dad is always, you know, visiting and stuff. So I have a twin brother, Richard, who plays bass. So dad brought a guitar to the house for my brother because he says, you know, a good bass player also knows how to play guitar. So instead of me, you know, every day I used to set up the drum kit and play. And, you know, I just found it easier to not set up the drum kit and take up the guitar. And jam with my brother while he was playing bass because he wasn't interested in the guitar at all. So it was just a convenient thing for me to pick up the guitar and say, OK, let's jam some. Let's try some together like this. And it just became what I did over and over until I just picked up the guitar full-time. Nice. Now, you play different genres of music. You know, coming from Jamaica, you know, reggae, right? But you do reggae, you do jazz, you do rock. I mean, you do it all, R&B. And we're going to get to that part later. But what is your favorite genre of music to play? Oh, to play definitely reggae, definitely. Yeah. It's in the blood, it's in the culture, it's in the system, it's all around me. So definitely reggae. Reggae? Now, you know, the pandemic affected all of us, OK? And I know it affected you guys in Jamaica, of course, over in the United States, Europe, everywhere. What did you do to get through those difficult times with the pandemic? Because, you know, the entertainment industry had came to a halt. Right. Pretty much I was trying to focus on completing projects that I have, you know, because there was no traveling, as you say, and there is no shows. So I took the time to actually, you know, try and create projects, you know, keep busy. So I did a lot of recording, still trying to finish up stuff that have started. So that's basically it, you know, just trying to complete stuff and learning how to better promote my music as well. Now, you say your family, you know, that's how you got started was for your family. But who are some of your influencers, you know, in the music industry that influenced you? Besides your family. Oh, because I was going to mention that first. I know you can. But guitar-wise, there is, I remember I was Ariel Hendricks above at one point, you know, I really admire Hendricks. Hence, that's the beginning of the rock influence. And there are cats like Lee Retinawer, Larry Carlton, George Benson, obviously, Norman Brown, you know, those jazz cats. And then you have on the rock side, again, you have Satriani, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and those guys. But early on, when I used to listen mostly reggae, the Marley guitar players, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson, they were really, you know, the ones I listened to to get the whole reggae vibe. Also, I used to go to, my dad used to play with Ziggy Marley back in the 90s. And I used to go to his rehearsals all the time. So the guitarists for Ziggy Marley at the time, Earl Chinasmith and Ian Coleman, Busy, Ian Coleman, those two guitarists who also, you know, made an influence on my Jamaican style of playing. Now you have collaborated with quite a few people, okay? On your music. Who would be your dream collaboration? And I asked this question because it interests me to find out what each artist I ask, what they're gonna say. You know, I've had some shockers, you know? But who would be your dream collaboration? Does it have to be a singer or a musician? It could be anyone, anybody that you wanna work with that you would love to work with, dead or, you know, or alive. I've actually never thought about it, but now that you asked the question, probably Prince, because I admire his guitar playing and his compositions and his whole vibe. So maybe Prince would have, yeah, Prince would have been a great person to call up with, yeah. And I can see you doing something of a Prince song. I see you, I see you doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then maybe add that little island flavor to it, like. Definitely, definitely. Like I like to say, now let's talk about your music. You know, now my show is of course smooth jazz. So I'm going out of my realm a little bit because you do everything. You do the reggae, the jazz, the rock, okay? So we're gonna talk about your projects that you have done. And you do have two Grammys, you have two Grammys. And we spoke earlier, of course, they're not your solo project, but I feel that you're gonna get one for your solo project. But your two Grammys were, for the first one was for the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, okay? That was the best R&B album. And then your second Grammy was for singing Shaggy's album, I think it was 44, 876? Right. Okay, and that was best reggae album. How was it to receive those Grammys? How was it? Well, it was great. It was a good feeling to accomplish that. Actually, you know, when I play, I don't look for accolades or preys or anything like that. So when a project actually does something good, it's like, wow, cool, you know, but it's a good feeling to know that something that I participated in actually did well in the industry, got recognized by industry peers. So it's a great feeling and I'm truly grateful all the while. Now we talk about your new album, This Out, your solo album, This Is Your Album, entitled Cliff, Marley and Tush. And like I stated earlier, it is in for Grammy consideration and I'm just hoping and praying, I'm putting it out there for you that it'll get that Grammy nomination and to get that Grammy win. I'm gonna put that out there. But it is for, it's in Grammy consideration for best contemporary instrumental album. Why don't you tell us a little bit about this album and how did you come about in making this? Oh, Cliff Marley Tush actually was conceptualized years and years ago, maybe from 2006. I was playing with Jimmy Cliff at the time and I think we just came off tour and around that time I realized I hadn't put out a project in a while. So I figured, you know, I tried to, you know, brainstorm and say, what can I do? What can I do? And I say, okay, Jimmy Cliff vibes is still with me. So let's do some Jimmy Cliff songs. Let's do, you know, a couple of Jimmy Cliff covers and I said, Jimmy Cliff only? No, and then I decided to pick, you know, icons, reggae artists who are icons. I said, I have to do Bob Marley and then Peter Tush, you know, because at the time, those three names just came to me, you know, as icons in reggae music, you know, you hear Peter Tush, you think the radical roots reggae and everybody knows Bob Marley. And then Jimmy Cliff is another one. So I decided to do an album from back in 2006 with, you know, three songs from each artist. But fast forward to 2020 last year. This album was like, it was just a concept. I recorded a lot of the songs and it just stopped because I started touring, doing other stuff and it just kind of get pushed back. So last year I again said, yo, I haven't put our project in since 2015. So I'm like, what can I do? And I said, well, and I have this project, why don't I just complete it? So I, you know, tied with the idea and I decided I have a mailing list. So in order to motivate myself, I said, you know what, let's do the album and give it to all the subscribers on my mailing list. So I said, yeah, subscribers, you know, interested and engaged. So I immediately sent out an email. I think it was early December actually and say, yo, I'm gonna do this project. You'll love it. It's a cover album. I don't remember the exact wording of the email, but I promised it to be completed by Christmas day. That would be my Christmas gift to my subscribers. And the minute I sent the email, I was like, okay, Robert, you can't get out of it. No, there's no turning back. So you have to finish your project. And I immediately started, you know, finishing the songs. There were a couple of the songs that I did not use that were originally recorded because I didn't think it fit with where I am musically know. So I recorded, I think, four brand new songs and compiled album, mixed it and finished it. I didn't finish it for Christmas, but they got it for New Year's Eve. So that's the whole thing with this album. And as I said, you know, what bigger artist, Jamaican artist than Bob Marley at Jimmy Cliff and a Pete Attache to show respect to and cover their, excuse me, cover their works. Well, you know, you do an excellent job with it. I have told you my favorite song on that, on that album that you cover, but I just want to let the audience know about your other albums because you do have three other albums before this one. So the first one is birth, right, of 2000, that was in 2004. The second album in 2010 is entitled Electrifying Grooves of Diversion. That sounds like an interesting title right there. We're gonna have to come back to that one. The third one is Groovy Love Thing in 2015. And then of course, the one we just talked about is the fourth one is Cliff Marley and Tosh. But I'm gonna go back to that second one there, Electrifying Grooves of Diversion. What was the inspiration behind that one right there? That title came because, you know, when I worked on the songs, they weren't traditionally written. Meaning usually you come up with a melody and you have a chorus and structure the songs in a particular way. For this one, I actually just got rhythm tracks from my brother and another producer. And instead of thinking like I'm writing a melody, I just basically played hooks or grooves on the tracks. And then some of them, it goes where you don't expect it. Hence the title, Electrifying Grooves of Diversion. And the word diversion, you can look at it in Jamaican slang also as diversion, which means the version, which version is without lyrics. So it's also a play on words. So are you gonna play for us today? Sure, yes. Yes. I'd love to. Well, we're gonna wait for you to get set up. And we're gonna wait for you to get set up so we can hear you play. You know, I'm excited about this. Cool. I'm always excited to have live music. I should do that right now, yes? Yes. All right, one second. So I'm gonna play for you from the Groovy Love Thing album, the track that most people seem to like. It's Groovy Little Thing. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Questions for you. You don't think you're gonna get out that easy. We have a few more questions for you. Now, you are a phenomenal guitar player, phenomenal. And there's a lot of other guitar players out there in the music industry. Tell us what sets you apart from the other guitar players out there in the industry. Yeah. I'm Jamaican. What can I say? I believe not a lot of other guitarists has the vibe that I have. Has the Jamaican essence, the essence that I have being Jamaican, you know. And it's also, I mean, you have great guitarists who play jazz and all these other genres, but how many guitarists can actually, you know, jump into a reggae thing like and really play reggae nicely. So I think that is the main thing that would set me apart from most other guitarists. That was a great answer, too. That was a great answer because everything I hear you play, I don't care whether it's the R&B portion, the jazz portion or the rock portion. I always hear a little touch of Jamaica. Up in there. Right. You have to be true to who you are. And I'll always, you know, show your identity at some point. Yes. Yes, you do. Now, there also are a lot of new artists and musicians out there coming into the music industry. You as an artist that has been on the scene for a long time, what would you say to these new artists that are coming into the industry? What advice would you give to them? Try and try and try. Don't stop because, you know, a lot of people get discouraged when like even me, you know, when I've been putting out songs and when you look at the streaming numbers and they aren't good, it's very discouraging. But if you love what you're doing, just continue to try as hard as you can and learn as much as you can about, you know, marketing and promoting. Because it's 2021, you know. There are all these tools available to us to do it ourselves now. You know, there's social media and all these other platforms. So try your best to learn about the industry and just don't give up because some things that I've done years ago is now, you know, people just noticing them now. So it's just do it. And I have a lot of friends who record and record and record and never release a song. So don't, that's my other advice, new artists is don't fall into that category. Don't just record and record and record. I can, in Jamaican music industry, Sly Dunbar from Sly and Robbie, his advice I share is an idea, a song is no good if it's on tape or if it's on your hard drive alone. You have to share it with the people. So no matter how you think your song is not ready yet or you are not ready yet, you have to start somewhere. So put out songs, share it with the people, share it with the masses and you will grow from there pretty much. But keep on and just keep on. Right, now what, we have a few more minutes left. What do we need to mark on our schedule? Do what do I need to mark on my schedule? And if I want to, you know, come see you perform, where can people go to, you know, find out more about you and where your performances are? Where can they find out your performances? Well, for now it's social media strictly and my website are robertdubwise.com and my social media handles are all pretty much the same, Robert Dubwise Brownie on, you know, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. There is nothing coming out. I mean, sorry, no performance is happening real soon. But I have some planned for maybe later this month a video performance that I'm putting out. I'm shooting for Thanksgiving but let's see how that goes. Okay, so we're just gonna keep, we're gonna keep an eye on your website and social media to let us know when that is going to happen. Because I know for sure I'm gonna be looking and I'm gonna be there to see you. Well, I wanna thank you so much, so much for being here all the way from Jamaica. I'm gonna have to make a visit to Jamaica. Everybody wants to come to Hawaii, but now I wanna come to Jamaica, you know. Yeah, as I told you, Hawaii is one of my favorite places to visit also, I love Hawaii, the vibe is great, you know. Is it, you know, in Hawaii, you have that big reggae scene here. Right, right. So you would fit right on in when you come over here. So we're gonna have to make it a point to try and get you here for our performance and I will definitely be in touch with you. But again, thank you so much for being here on the Hawaii Soul Jazz Connection. Yeah, man, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it and thank you for supporting the music and loving the songs, you know. No worries, it is my pleasure. To my viewers and my listeners, until next time, aloha and God bless.