Blake Thomas & The Downtown Brown

Blake Thomas and the Downtown Brown is a five piece original folk-rock band based in Madison, Wisconsin. The members of the band are Blake Thomas (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Shauncey Ali (viola, mandolin), Teddy Pedriana (keyboards), Jeff Bail (bass guitar), and Justin Kunesh (drums). Their musical influences include artists such as Bob Dylan, the Jayhawks, David Gray, the Replacements, the Grateful Dead, and the late Elliott Smith, while remaining rooted in the old blues and folk stylings of musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Charlie Patton. In December of 2002, the group worked together on an album called “Long Gone Lonesome” that was headed by then 20 year old Boston-based folk musician Blake Thomas. A year later, the project album had turned into a full-time band. The album also featured the fingerstyle and slide guitar work of John Hasbrouck, whose solo-recording “Ice Cream” was one of Acoustic Guitar’s Top Ten albums of 2002.