Brownie Ford

Thomas Edison 'Brownie' Ford (1904-1996) was a half Anglo-American, half Comanche cowboy singer and storyteller from Louisiana who spent decades rodeoing, ranch working, and performing in medicine shows and on the rodeo circuit. His repertoire pulled from British and American ballads, cowboy songs, and blues, all rooted in his lived experience as a ranch hand and rodeo rider. He received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987, recognizing him as one of Louisiana's last traditional singers of old Anglo ballads and cowboy songs.