When asked what has set Sawyer Brown apart in the music business to account for four decades of success, lead singer and front man Mark Miller answers, “One of the unique things about the band is we don’t really have a lot of love songs. We have life songs.”

Years before The Voice and American Idol, there was Star Search with Ed McMahon. In the first season, an eclectic and charismatic country-rock band appeared on the show, taking America by storm. After being told no time after time in Nashville showcases, Sawyer Brown won over millions of fans with their electrifying TV performances week after week in Hollywood. Capturing the hearts of all ages, their sound was compared to country super-groups like Alabama and Charlie Daniels Band, but they looked more like The Rolling Stones and Aerosmtih. From ignored underdogs in Music City to overnight rock stars from LA to New York, they swept the competition and won.

Sawyer Brown

North Dakota State Fair Center

The group’s members were originally part of country pop singer Don King‘s road band. When King stopped touring in 1981, the group decided to stay together. The band played up to five sets a night, six days a week (for a time at Knight’s Corral, on Nolensville Rd., in Nashville, as “Bobby, Mark, and Sandgap”), until they auditioned for the TV show Star Search in 1983. They won the grand prize of $100,000 and a recording contract.

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