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NOTE: Our first CD, "Hot 'n Saucy" is still available. CLICK HERE for details. For details on our newest CD, "Bar-BQ Boogie, CLICK HERE.)

Order Blues Bar-BQ's Award Winning CD, "Back for Seconds"

This professionally recorded studio CD offers a great selection of blues, jump and swing. It has that "good time" feeling of a live performance combined with the technical excellence of a high quality studio recording. It's also what helped us win the "Best Blues Band" division at the 2003 Orange County Music Awards. Recorded on 2-inch audio tape and mastered and digitized under the direction of professional sound engineer Dave Gehlhar at Selah Recording Studio in Los Alamitos, this is a CD that makes you want to "crank it up". 

(In case you're interested, the cover photo was taken at Big Jim's Bar-BQ in Encinitas, CA.)

Here's what's on the menu:

· Keeper of the Peace*
· Sugar Mama*
· Wine, Wine, Wine**
· Oh Baby*
· Blackie's Other Boogie (Inst.)
· She's Tough**
· Sick and Tired***
· Hard Hearted Woman*
· T-Bone Steak Blues**
· Boo Hoo Baby*

*Vocals: Bob, **Vocals: Chris, ***Vocals: Joe

To order the CD, please send a check or money order (no cash please) for $15.00. You'll definitely get your money's worth with over 40 minutes of tasty  music! For regular 1st class mail in the USA add $1.75 postage. For Priority Mail add $3.85 postage. Outside the USA add $5.00 for air mail postage. Send your order to:

Blues Bar-BQ, 711 Virginia Place, San Marcos, CA 92069

(Don't forget to include your return mailing address.)

Song Samples

Here are some high quality MP3 samples of four complete songs to whet your appetite. For best results save them to your hard drive before playing them rather than streaming them directly to your player. They are fairly large files to provide good quality sound so they may be somewhat slow to download. (Samples are saved at 44.1 kHz, 320 kBit/s HQ)

PC--Right Click song link, use "Save Target As" menu item to save to your hard drive. Once loaded, double click song  to open your player and play.

Mac--Click on song link and drag to desktop. Once loaded, double click song icon to open your player and play.

SAMPLE 1...Keeper of the Peace (3:27)  (5.45 Mb)

SAMPLE 2...Wine, Wine, Wine (2:45) (4.34 Mb)

SAMPLE 3...Sick and Tired (3:35) (5.95 Mb)

SAMPLE 4...Hard Hearted Woman (4:25) (7.0 Mb)

If you like what you hear, please order the whole CD. See the ordering instructions above or come out and see us in person and get a signed copy from the band!

About the Musicians on the CD

Almost the same as our current live lineup, the only difference in the lineup is guitar player Chris "Chrispy Critters" O'Connel. He has since left the group to play for Elnora, and our current band features a couple of new guitar stars. See the page on The Band for the current lineup. You will find some really fine guitar and vocal work by Chris on this CD. This CD is still very representative of our current sound and song selection.

(Alex Borden Photo)

"Good Rockin'" Bob Landgraff

Harmonica, Lead Vocals

Formerly with Good Rockin' Daddy, Bob now calls Blues Bar-BQ his musical home. He's a dynamite harp player with over 30 years of experience under his belt, a great singer and entertaining front man for the band. Over the years Bob has played with Walter Trout and some other big names in blues. He has also written a number of songs which are being incorporated into the BBBQ repertoire. Bob's major early influences were Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Paul Butterfield. 

 

Chris "Chrispy Critters" O'Connell

Guitar,  Lead Vocals

New to Blues BarBQ but not to the blues. Chrispy's early exposure and influences were BB and Albert King, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield as well as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor when with John Mayall. From these beginnings, Chrispy traced backward with a blues historian's fervor through these artists' forefathers, finding his way to the Chicago blues greats Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Otis Rush. He also discovered West coast jump blues specialists like Jimmy Liggins, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Pee Wee Crayton. Over the years Chrispy has played in many rock, soul, R&B, progressive, blues rock and jazz rock bands only to come back home to the blues on an exclusive basis in the lathe 1980's. In this vein he has played with The Turbines, The Cat Reed Band, The Coolers, Blind Alley and now Blues Bar BQ.

Through the years he has played and also been associated with Pee Wee Crayton, Big Joe Turner, Floyd Dixon, The Intruders, Otis Brown (Drifters) and Finis Tasby.

His main blues weapons of choice are a 1955 Gibson ES 175, 1973 Gibson ES 335, 1957 reissue Fender Stratocaster. From time to time he will pull out his old cheapo Kays, such as an early 1960's Swingmaster.

Chrispy brings a smooth, professional sound born of many years of experience and many influences to Blues Bar BQ.

 

Brion Munsey

Upright bass, Bass Guitar, Vocals

Brion is a big man that brings a big bass beat with him. Brion started out playing tuba and trombone through middle school, high school and college before stringing up his first bass in the late 80's. 

After the usual garage band stint, Brion played the local Orange County and LA club scene with classic rock bands Dick Citizen, No End, and Steve Malloy’s Impact during the 199o's. After years of “duplicating” the sounds of the famous rock bands and bass players, he decided to explore other styles of music that allowed for more freedom of expression during live performances. Blues was a natural choice. 

During the late 90s he played live and recorded the blues for several years with Blind Alley, a band that would later splinter off into other groups. They still perform occasionally. Since then, Brion has played with a wide range of blues acts including Raging Sun, LA Jones, Elnora & Somethin Cookin, Blue Vision, King of Clubs and many others.  

Brion's biggest influences are Willie Dixon, Big Ernest Crawford, Larry Taylor, Mudcat Ward, Tommy Shannon, Buddy Guy and more.  Main axes are a Swingmaster upright and '93 Fender Custom Shop jazz bass. He plays through SWR amplification, mostly the Black Beauty 1 x 15” combo. 

 

Craig Libuse

Piano, Organ, Backup vocals

“The Boogieman” has been playing boogie woogie piano for over 40 years starting at the age of 12.  He’s no stranger to the 88’s.  Craig plays in a spare but authentic style grounded in 1930's and -40's boogie woogie and blues.

Craig has played locally with The Southside Blues Band, 2000 Pounds of Blues, Cryin' Shame, Hank Deluxe  and has backed up L.A. Jones, Joe Houston and Johnny Dyer on occasion. He has also opened for longtime friend Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers and was pleased to be asked to join Rod on stage for a couple of numbers.

Influences: Hugh "Blackie" Murray, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Little Brother Montgomery, Mary Lou Williams, Otis Spann, Ray Charles, Johnny Johnson.

Craig bought his first beat up upright piano at age 16, which went in the family garage so he could play Boogie Woogie whenever he felt like it.  Several years ago he restored a nice mahogany upright from the 1920's that now resides in his living room, but he plays a Kurzweil PC88mx on stage. Craig recently added a Roland VK-7 to the stack to get a better Hammond B3 sound for some of the songs.

 

Joe "JoJo" Hughes

Drums

Joe grew up in a musical family. His mother played in her own jump, boogie, swing band, and all of his brothers also have their own bands at this time. he recorded his first record at the age of 16 and has played with numerous projects such as big band, country, rock and blues. He has played at the Original Crazy Horse, BB King’s, Irvine Meadows and in a number of television appearances.

Recently Joe has backed up blues legends Finis Tasby and Deacon Jones (both longtime John Lee Hooker sidemen) and Johnny Tucker. He also played a benefit for the late Darryl Reynolds where he had the privilege of backing up Bobby Blue plus members of the Platters, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Ink Spots and the Marvelletes. Joe’s diversified drumming compliments his fellow musicians, and you are guaranteed a good time with the swing, jump, blues and boogie they will unleash.

Booking Information

To arrange for Blues Bar-BQ to play at your event, club, party or wedding, call:

(714) 334-6476 (L.A., Orange, Riverside Counties)

(760) 727-2001 (San Diego County)

E-mail: bluesbarbq2@aol.com