Brownie Mary’s Kelsey & Co.

Formed in 1993, Brownie Mary was one of Pittsburgh’s hot acts during the 1990s. The core members Kelsey Friday and Rich Jacques met in Bethany college in West Virginia and started off doing covers at the local bars, eventually becoming inspired to pen their own tunes.

The name Brownie Mary comes from a hospital volunteer named Mary Rathbun, who was arrested several times for handing out marijuana brownies to patients suffering from cancer and AIDS. Upon graduating they decided to take it seriously and move

to Pittsburgh.  There they linked up with bassist Mike Marks and drummer Steve Kaz and became regulars at local clubs like Graffiti, Nick’s Fat City, Rosebud as well as performing non stop on the east coast college circuit. The band had a loyal following in Pittsburgh, and their fan base soon stretched from Columbus to New York to Sarasota. Brownie Mary won top honors at the 1994 Graffiti Rock Challenge. The Graffiti victory, taken in competition against 100 of the freshest East Coast groups, earned the band Graffiti’s tag as the & Next Big Thing. They opened for Melissa Etheridge, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Dave Matthews Band, The Smithereens, The Crash Test Dummies, and Rusted Root. Brownie Mary also performed at 1995’s Saxophone Club DNC fund-raiser before an audience that included then President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea. They even had a presence on MTV, popping up on the occasional reality show. Churning out catchy pop tunes, Brownie Mary looked like a breakout group.

In 1994, Brownie Mary’s debut came in the form of a self-released, 11-track CD called “That’s Me.” Although courted by several major labels, the group released the follow-up independently, too.

The result was an EP called “Who’s Your Daddy,” a title which, according to Friday, is based on an inside band joke. Most of the tracks are upbeat pop, with a couple of folky cuts. The driving force is Barber’s vocals, circling around a heavy groove.

In 1997 with the support of a large enthusiastic fan base in the east coast tri-state region Brownie Mary was signed to Atlantic’s Blackbird/Sire label Brownie Mary released their major label debut in 1998. The album was produced by Kevin Moloney who worked with Sinead O’Connor and U2. The band was being compared to other alt pop groups like The Cranberries, The Pretenders, and No Doubt.

They got plenty of national airplay with “Naked,” and toured like madmen in its support, playing 250 dates in the twelve months following its release with artists including the Dave Matthew’s Band, Fuel, and Greenday. 

Finally after 7 years together they felt it had run it’s current course and Jacques and Friday went on to do their own things the last official Brownie Mary show was New Years eve 2000 performing with Veruca Salt in Columbus OH.