./BuddyBio.jpg Buddy was born in Syracuse, New York and moved to San Diego as a drug-addled teen-ager in ‘74. After playing guitar in a couple garage bands specializing in unbelievably shitty covers of “Smoke On The Water” and “Paranoid,” he hooked up with Texas bluesman Tomcat Courtney, backing him on Dobro for a spell. In ‘79, he joined shit-kicking country group The East County Boys and played the redneck circuit with ‘em for a year or so. In ‘81, Buddy formed rockabilly group The Rockin’ Roulettes; Rolle Love was recruited as Roulettes’ stand-up bassist and official purty boy the next year. In ‘83, Buddy and Rolle were asked to join Jerry Raney and Country Dick Montana in a new project which became The Beat Farmers. Blue recorded three albums with the Farmers, then left the nest at the beginning of ‘86. He started up an R&B-based band called The Jacks with former Penetrators bassist Chris Sullivan, former Iron Butterfly/Glory drummer Jack Pinney and former Doug Kershaw keyboardist Mighty Joe Longa; The Jacks released an album on Rounder in ’88. Blue was re-signed to Rhino Records – The Beat Farmers’ first label – in ’91. His solo debut, “Guttersnipes ‘n’ Zealots” featured an all-star cast including Dave Alvin, Mike Keneally, Tomcat, Mojo Nixon, R&B/doo-wop pioneer Richard Berry (composer of “Louie Louie”!) and hillbilly boogie great Merrill Moore (Buddy is particularly proud of the fact that he’s the only person moody ol’ Merrill ever agreed to record with after the ‘60s!). The Buddy Blue Band, a jump blues group, was signed to Bizarre/Planet Records in 1993; Blue was also active with the label as producer, sessionman and A&R guy, securing record deals for the Rugburns, Earl Thomas and Joy Eden Harrison, and recording with blues legends Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Floyd Dixon. In ‘97, Blue started his own label, Clarence Records, and released a trio of jumpin’ solo albums featuring guest stars Alvin, X guitarist Billy Zoom, Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker, “Queen Of The Beatniks” Judy Henske, super session keyboardist Craig Doerge, alt-country mensch Chris Gaffney, Forbidden Pigs frontman Billy Bacon, jazz sax hero Joe Marillo and mammalicious San Diego soul singer Romy Kaye. Blue briefly re-signed with Bizarre in 2003 and released a jazz CD before bailing out to play with Jerry, Rolle and Bongo in The Farmers. For more info, check out Buddy’s website, http://buddyblue.com/