Journeyman roots artist Prezident Brown hopes the positive response to his I Sound Is From Creation album during a recent trip to France, is a sign of bigger things in 2013.

The self-described chanter did four shows in the cities of Montpelier, Paris, Lyon and Marseille, areas he had not been in some time. The Paris gig was a concert with veteran roots singer Willie Williams, while the others were done in a sound system setting.

PREZIDENT BROWN… admits a hit song remains elusive

“The shows were a re-emergence for Prezident Brown in France. I was inactive in terms of new releases so the people were happy to see mi again,” he told Splash.

I Sound Is From Creation was released in November by Tad’s Record, and hears the lanky Brown working with the Jahpostles Band which includes bassist Devon Bradshaw and guitarist Ian ‘Beezy’ Coleman.

A protégé of producer/sound system operator Lawrence ‘Jack Ruby’ Lindo, Brown has been recording since the late 1980s, working with respected producers such as Barry O’Hare and Bobby ‘Bobby Digital’ Dixon.

Though he has released critically-hailed albums like Prezident Selection, To Jah Only and Original Blueprint, Brown admits a hit song remains elusive.

He is banking on Be Careful, one of the tracks from I Sound Is From Creation, to do the trick. A video for the song was filmed while he was in France.

Most of Brown’s albums have been released in Europe by small independent companies like Runn Records from The Netherlands, and Chet Records out of Munich, Germany.

In the mid-1990s, Brown signed a six-album deal with Chris Blackwell’s Island Jamaica Records but none of the recordings he did for the label were released.

Brown, (born Fitz Cotterell) who is scheduled to appear at Rebel Salute in January, says he plans to tour the United States west coast and Pacific Northwest in support of the new album, starting in April.