Album Notes

Booze Monkey is a two-piece acoustic-blues band based in Winchester, VA. Former Sanity Check Musec, Inc. (SCM) solo-recording artist BLUE sings, plays guitar and a homemade stompbox. Joel "Spyder" Ludwig plays a fretless acoustic bass.

Prior to forming Booze Monkey with Joel, BLUE had released eight independent solo records, as well as, two modern rock records with the band METAL MACHINE and two industrial dance records with his multi-media creation Church Of Chaos. BLUE is also an award winning filmmaker and the composer of many soundtrack works. He has worked in many musical genres over the years, however always found himself returning to the blues. With Booze Monkey, he has decided to stay there.

Joel Ludwig was the long-time bass player for BLUE's live band "BLUE & the JADED". The JADED performed live with many different artists in support of BLUE's solo records throughout the 1990's. Joel is a graduate of West VA University, a published poet, a longtime radio broadcast personality and SCM remix artist. He has also acted in several short films produced by SCM.

The Booze Monkey bass parts are always written and arranged with great care; they are never an afterthought. They provide a very distinct and dimensional sound to Booze Monkey's music.

BLUE (his real, legal and only name) switches between resonator guitars and standard 6-string, alternating between finger-style, bottle neck and flat pick techniques. As a long-time multiinstrumentalist, his influence on Booze Monkey arrangements are diverse and often complex, but the limited number of instruments prevents the music from becoming pompous or losing its entertaining focus.

Booze Monkey's music, and in turn it's live show, combines components of jazz, rock, folk, country, americana, bluegrass and rockabilly into a package that is succinctly blues.

Booze Monkey's live set consists of songs from throughout BLUE's catalogue, a few traditional blues covers, covers of songs written by fellow artists from the region, and new songs that are specific to the band.

Their show incorporates humor, assured musicianship, a relaxed confidence gained from decades of combined experience and most importantly a sincere respect for both the music and their audience.