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∙ ABOUT THE BAND
∙ PAST GIGS
∙ CD #3
∙ CD #2
∙ CD #1
FAN PHOTOS
∙ BLUES LINKS
∙ PRESS COVERAGE
∙ SESSION PHOTOS
JoJo's Musician's Earplugs
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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. |