Derek Brown

Derek Brown, The Blues Ox Persona on KSQM Radio

“I am the producer/host of Blues-ish, a weekly broadcast music experience featuring blues and blues-influenced music, heard Thursdays from 6 – 8 p.m. on KSQM 91.5 FM.

“KSQM provides an excellent venue for The Blues Ox to share curated blues experiences.  My show, Blues-ish and my persona, The Blues Ox, serve to expand and amplify these community efforts through adding a unique and differentiating radio experience.  Our target audience is music lovers everywhere who crave and appreciate new and thoughtful experiences.

“I moved to Sequim nearly six years ago from Salt Lake City, Utah as part of a family lifestyle change.  I heard about Sequim from a friend in Utah, who had visited and spoke glowingly of the area.   My family very much liked the natural beauty of the area and the richness of the local community. I appreciate the strong sense of community pride.

“The stunning beauty of the area, featuring rugged coastlines, picturesque views of the Olympic Mountains, and pastoral agricultural scenes make Sequim unique.  Sequim is a rare combination, considering the proximity to such a diversity of nature, the great weather provided by the natural protection provided by the mountains, and the local deep and storied history.”

“Surrounded by music from birth, it quickly became a lifelong passion for me.  My older siblings were very interested in music, and I listened to their records incessantly.  I also spent a significant amount of time with my grandfather, who worked in a music store selling guitars, harmonicas, and sheet music. 

“My interest in blues music developed in my pre-teen years as I recognized many blues riffs and structures in popular music at that time.  Blues has influenced almost all music of the last 100 years.  Blues great Willie Dixon famously said, " Blues is the roots and everything else is the fruits," which I believe.  I have an early memory of hearing BB King on the radio and thinking that BB King had copied an AC/DC song that was popular at that time.  That sparked an interest in learning more about blues. 

“Throughout my high school years, I recognized that much of the popular music at the time from genres such as metal, experimental jazz, funk, and pop had obvious foundations in blues music.  Without Son House, there is no Buddy Holly and without Robert Johnson, there is no Jerry Lee Lewis.  To me, it is all connected, and all roads lead back to the blues.  Seeing these connections at a pretty young age has kept me passionate about music my entire life.

“I have taken piano, guitar, and stand-up bass lessons, but I don’t consider myself a musician.  I think instead I am meant to be a critic and appreciator of music of all kinds, but maybe in a future life, I will come back as a rockstar.”

KSQM is a non-commercial, educational radio station broadcasting music largely from the 1940s through the 1960s and local news and weather reports. As a volunteer-driven and community-supported, non-profit radio experience, KSQM survives through the engagement of listeners and the community.  The station, located at 609 W Washington Street, fulfills community needs related to emergency communication, news and weather, community events, support of area non-profit entities, and entertainment.