Tom Brown (left) and Robert Thatcher
“Roll On Echo River” written by Robert Thatcher of Signal Mountain and Tom Brown of Dalton, was selected as Best in the Americana/Bluegrass Category in the WWALS Watershead Coalition Songwriting Competition. Finals were held at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Ga. They also won best in the Americana/Bluegrass Category in 2023 with “This Ol’ River”.
Since June 2012, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity working for a healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water. The organization advocates for conservation and stewardship of the surface waters and groundwater of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary, in south Georgia and north Florida, among them the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds, through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.
Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown began co-writing in 2017. Since that time, their collaborations have resulted in them placing three times in the John Hartford Songwriting Challenge, third place in the 2018 American Songwriter Contest, third place in the 2018 Woody Guthrie Songwriting Competition, runner up in the Podunk Bluegrass Festival, and numerous honorable mentions. Tom is also known for co-writing the bluegrass musical comedy “Fat Shirley’s: A Trailer Park Opera which has been staged at numerous theaters in the southeast and in the United Kingdom.