His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing".

The birthplace of Brown's upbeat "hot-jazz hillbilly" string band sound was developed at the Crystal Springs Dance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1931 to 1936.

After graduating from Fort Worth's Arlington Heights High School in 1925, he worked as a cigar salesman, but he lost his job when the Great Depression hit in the late '20s.

In early 1931, the group was hired by the Light Crust Flour Company—which was run by Burrus Mill and Elevator Company—to appear daily on the radio station KFJZ.

The Doughboys were playing cowboy songs, jazz, blues, and popular songs—a repertoire so diverse that the band's audience continued to expand.

After leaving the Light Crust Doughboys, Brown formed the world's first Western swing band in Fort Worth, Texas, the Musical Brownies.

Shortly afterward, pianist Fred "Papa" Calhoun and fiddle player Cecil Brower (who replaced Ashlock) joined the group.

Brown and his talented group of musicians were responsible for numerous innovations, notably in late 1934, the Brownies added the true pioneer of the world's first electrically amplified steel guitar—Bob Dunn.

On the morning of April 13, 1936, Brown suffered a car accident, which may have been attributed to his habitual falling asleep at inopportune times, possibly narcolepsy.