Album Notes

PRESS RELEASE
March 2007" Mary Washington Brooks" and her six band members was the headlining entertainment at the "Circle on The square" in Delray beach Fla at old School square. The shows planner and the more than one thousand guest enjoyed the Blues and danced like they never danced before.
"At the 2006 "SUNFEST" in West Palm Beach Florida, Mavis Staples opned the show for this South florida Blues sensation. MARY came on stage and delivered as promised to all the Blues lovers. In 2007, Mary was one of the Headliners at the "South Florida Blues Diva show" held at "CHEERS" in Pompano Beach Florida and played to a standing room only crowd of Blues lovers, also in 2007 Mary opened the annual Riverwalk blues festival to enthusiatic blues fans once again.

" Just another female singer "are words never used to describe the extraordinary vocal styling of singer Mary Washington-Brooks. The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel called her a "Hidden Treasure"

In each performance, Mary creates new meaning to familiar song lyrics of

sophisticated rhythm and blues--- her first love---and has an equal affect on

Old jazz standards. She attributes her multi-faceted talent to having grownup in a small northwestern Florida town; living in south Texas for several years and being blessed with a love for all kinds of music.
Following her 1989 release of her first album; "BEST SELLER" on the Emerald Records label, Brooks began a collaboration with some local artists and formed the group known as "Mary Washington & Special Blend. Her second album titled "Wild Women Don't get the Blues" kept her very busy for quite a while during the late ninety's where she remained on the Emerald records label until recently.

As a Florida native who's childhood was filled with the sound of blues and a mixture of 50's& 60's music,(which were constantly being played by older members of her family)She simply fell in love with the blues. She also listened nightly to "The Ernie of Nashville Tennessee Radio Show" Low down hard driving blues, every thing that was popular and much of what was not so popular. Brooks says that she lived next door to a "Jook Joint" where blues was the staple and she literally lived and experienced the "Blues" daily as a single mother of two daughters for many years.

Brooks group " Special Blend " consist of usually four to five top musicians, some young and some old, some male/some female, some of them whom she have worked with for twenty years or more. The diverse backgrounds of the members of "Special Blend" is the bases for the band's name. Simply put "Their sound is so special because of the blend. Her usual musical instrumentation is Keyboards, Percussions, Guitarist, Saxophonist/Conga's, and killer bass guitarist, quite often she will throw in a Harmonica, which she absolutely adores.

When some audience members were poled, they thought she was " much too pretty to know about the blues, Brooks says that good looks "often bring the blues right to your front door".