Brandon Jenkins

Brandon Dean Jenkins (June 7, 1969 – March 2, 2018) was an American singer-songwriter and philanthropist. He was part of the Red Dirt music genre.

Jenkins performed in the Texas and Oklahoma regions, and he toured Europe on several occasions. He often played 150 shows per year and shared the stage with Cross Canadian Ragweed, Sunny Sweeney, Zane Williams, Cory Morrow, Deana Carter, Pat Green, Willie Nelson, The Mavericks, and Kevin Welch.

One of Jenkins' notable songs, "Refinery Blues," was a biographical ballad about growing up near the Sand Springs Line, an area where oil refineries abound near the Arkansas River tributary of the Mississippi River.

In 1987, Jenkins graduated from Central High School in Tulsa, where he was in the jazz band, sang in the choir, and taught himself guitar. In the 1980s, He attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. During his time at OSU, Jenkins made life-long friends with many of his long-term musical collaborators in the Red Dirt Music community, including Cody Canada, Mike McClure, Stoney LaRue, and Bleu Edmondson.

Jenkins' uncle was the Grammy Award-winning bass player, sound engineer, and producer, Gordon Shryock, who was known for his work with J. J. Cale and Leon Russell, as well as Andrae Crouch, Elvis Presley, Natalie Cole, and Dwight Yoakam.

Career In the early 1990s, Jenkins got his start recording for the Alabama-based record label, Rainy Records.

In 2003, Jenkins moved from Oklahoma to Austin, Texas, where he lived until 2015.

In 2005, Jenkins released Down in Flames and got a 3-year record deal for his Western Soul Records imprint to have his work distributed by Sony/RED. The record came out on the Thirty Tigers label.

In 2008, Jenkins released Faster Than a Stone, which featured Travis Fite and Stoney LaRue.

Jenkins' 2009 album Brothers of the Dirt was a collaboration with many Red Dirt and Texas country scene artists: Cody Canada (Cross Canadian Ragweed), Stoney LaRue, Jason Boland, and Randy Rogers. The record was his first release on the independent label E1 Entertainment/Red Dirt Music Co. The song, "Out of Babylon," sung by Jenkins and Canada, was a tribute to 9/11, while the song, "Innocent Man," is a LaRue and Rogers contribution inspired by the John Grisham novel about Ron Williamson, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.

Jenkins recorded The Flag, in 2016 which again with long-time collaborator, Dave Percefull. The song was placed 8th on the list of "The 50 Best Red Dirt Texas Country Songs" of the Dallas Observer, and helped his career significantly.

Fellow Red Dirt artists Bleu Edmondson ("Finger on the Trigger") and Stoney LaRue ("Feet Don't Touch The Ground") recorded and performed songs written by Jenkins. and features on his album Live at Billy Bob's Texas. His song "Down in Flames," co-written by Stoney LaRue, appeared on The Red Dirt Album.

Influences Jenkins cited the influence of the "Tulsa Sound" of J. J. Cale and Leon Russell on his songs and said that the songwriting gives him the most satisfaction.

Jenkins also cited the life and music of Woody Guthrie as being an important part of his approach to music and focusing on people and their lives in the Oklahoma region. He was married to Michele Angelique Jenkins until his death in 2018.

On February 21, 2018, Jenkins was hospitalized in Nashville and underwent surgery to replace his aorta and aortic valve. After the procedure, he experienced surgical complications and remained hospitalized until his death on March 2, 2018, at the age of 48.

Release date: August 8, 1999 Label: Red Dirt Legend Recordings 2006: Various Artists, Red Dirt Sampler: Volume II. Songs in the Spirit of Woody Guthrie (CD Baby) – "Refinery Blues," also Producer 2006: Route 66: Songs of the Mother Road (CD Baby) – "Headin' Down That Mother Road"