By Paige Lambert
Longtime radio personality Bama Brown has spent the holidays with movie stars. Country music A-listers have shot music videos on his property.
But he is more likely to be found today helping Dripping Springs.
Brown and his wife Jamie Thompson moved to Dripping Springs in 1999.
But at one point, Brown said he was set on moving to the once little town years before.
“I was riding through with a guy, I was probably in my mid-20s, and just thought ‘(Dripping Springs) was the coolest little town,’” Brown said. “I said ‘I’d like to live here some day.’”
Before the days of rubbing elbows with celebrities, Brown moved to Houston to work in the oil industry.
Around 1990, Brown moved to Austin and began looking for property in Dripping Springs, he said.
In the meantime, he would go to Baby Acapulco with his friend, who worked at Z102.3 as a DJ.
But one fateful night when the radio station’s night DJ quit 30 minutes before his shift made all the difference to Brown.
Needing someone to fill in, Brown’s friend coaxed him into the role.
“My friend said, ‘we’re too drunk to be on the radio, you have to be on the radio,’” Brown said. “So they put me on the radio, went back to Baby Acapulco’s and left me there.”
Brown said he went for it since he didn’t work at the station and openly told listeners he was thrown into it.
One listener even called to give him pointers, he said.
“The guy says, ‘you’re too close to the microphone,’ so I backed up and said, ‘how’s that?’” Brown said. “He said, ‘that’s great, now shut up and play a record.’”
Since then, Brown has continued his presence on the radio. He’s worked as a morning DJ at KVET, a country music station, for roughly a decade.
Since he always had morning shifts, Brown would spend his afternoons helping Dripping Springs ISD.
Brown emceed events for their daughter Alex’s class and got to know all the families, Thompson said.
“We wanted Alex to grow up around all her friends,” Thompson said. “We both grew up in smaller towns, so you know what that’s like and how important that is.”
While Thompson volunteered with other moms, Brown would emcee or promote events on air. People would hear him in the morning and call the station to help, she said.
Thompson said Brown would also hold a lot of radio station events in Dripping Springs that would aid the growing district.
“He’s that go-to guy,” Thompson said. “When they needed help, they would call Bama because they knew he could get results.”
Good-hearted people like Brown never ask for recognition or expect it, Thompson said.
Brown said he felt a little of that recognition before his daughter’s class Project Graduation trip.
After he gave a going away speech, “All four buses yelled, ‘we love you Mr. Bama’ and cheered,” he said.
“You see these kids that are grown ups that you emceed for, they are good parents and good workers now,” Brown said. “The payoff and the feeling that you get when you see the result is just, you can’t put a price on it.”
Brown continues to promote the district and aid Dripping Springs whenever he can, Thompson said.
She and Brown said they just consider themselves as one of the many families who have helped start so many things to aid Dripping Springs.
“They don’t want a lot of attention but they are people that deserve it,” Brown said. “Once it’s rolling, then everyone wants to help.”
