The birth of this blues group
started in 1991 at the house of Mike Brandt (guitar) with his best
friend George Riola (guitar/vocals). The two of them joined forces
with Keith Kester (bass/vocals) and Dave Bingham (harmonica/vocals/WDIY
& WMUH Blues DJ) and formed a band that did not survive long enough
to start booking places. They recruited Dave Small (harmonica), Gerry
Adams (drums) and Bev "BC" Conklin (vocals). The band developed
their repertoire (with the help of area DJs like, Dr. Otis R. Blues
at WXLV) and their first official gig was at the Buttenut Inn in New
Tripoli at a Blue Fest opener. It was BC's first experience and Mike
Dugan's band manager/soundman at that time, John Ott set up her first
microphone of many more to come (John Ott, Jr. died prematurely in
the late 90's). The band's original name was the Soul Doctors. That
name didn't feel right and with consensus they became BC & The
Blues Crew in 1992. The drummer didn't feel right either and he was
replaced by Ron Grassi who lasted a little over a year until his management
job at Prudential relocated him out of the area and he was replaced
by Nick. Not too many blues bands existed in the early to mid 90's
and bookings were plentiful as they played rooms like Canons, The
Shanty, the Weaversville Inn, the Sterling Hotel, the Acorn, the Raven's
Nest as well as rooms in State College and New Jersey. Mike Dugan's
former bassist, Hooter booked many of these gigs and with time, BC
took over with the bookings herself. BC joined the Lehigh Valley Blues
Network in 1993 and immediately became a force within that organization
as she became the Editor of the newsletter, Vice-President, Concert
Chair, and then President during the next seven years. It was through
this membership that she gained a much broader understanding of the
blues scene locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
She began booking shows with record label artists and as she developed
her awareness of the blues, she too began to become a force to recon
with on vocals. BC helped many of today's area bands get started by
introducing them to the LVBN and getting them involved with the blues
jams and area festivals as volunteers where they were able to meet
other musicians who wanted to form bands. As the group evolved, members
began to change. Al Guerrero (bass/vocals) replaced Keith Kester in
late 1993 and Al G. brought with him a drummer, Kevin Brown (both
came from a group called Bid Daddy led by James Carrollyn). DJ Tippett
joined on saxophone and he brought with him a keyboardist, Steve Patterson
(Mike Brandt's brother-n-law), who replaced George Riola. This group
became the house band for the Silver Star Saloon in Bethlehem and
it was also the beginning of many years at Musikfest and Mayfair.
DJ Tippett worked for Kraft and was relocated back to Detroit. Steve
Patterson needed the money gigs and left to join a wedding band. He
was replaced by Wayne Smith, who was touring with Jay & The Techniques
at the time. BC, Mike, Dave, Al G., Kevin, and Wayne recorded the
group's first CD, Unfinished Business, which was produced and arranged
by Wayne up at Red Rock Recording Studio in Saylorsburg, PA and released
in 1997. Wayne left the group shortly after this project to pursue
a songwriting career in Nashville. Soon after, Mitch Shelly came in
to replace Al G. on bass for health reasons. This was in 1998 when
this make-up won the Billtown Blues Association's blues talent competition
and went to Memphis, TN to compete internationally where they made
it as one of the finalist. The group began sharing the bill with national
recording artists and headlined a few festivals themselves. It was
time to start recording their new originals and Wayne Smith rejoined
the group for this project back in early 1999. Also at this time,
BC was working with Miriam Huertas of Bummer Tent Records to develop
a list of blues bands in the area to record on their first Blues Compilation
project. The blues community suffered a great loss with the premature
death of Tonya Browne of Queen Bee & The Blue Hornet Band, due
to complications from diabetes and Miraim suggested dedicating this
project to Queen Bee. BC called Mark Ross for the approval and he
asked her to choose the song that would go on the compilation from
a list of three he thought would represent her best. BC and Tonya
both met at Penn State at the Brickhouse Tavern before she was recruited
by Mark Ross to form their band. Probably one of the most memorable
highlights was at the Ladies Sing the Blues concert in 1999 at Mayfair
featuring BC, Queen Bee and Koko Taylor, which was arranged by LVBN
board member and WMUH Blues DJ, Jim Mertz. In 1999, the first Lehigh
Valley Music Awards was formed and it was here that the group won
Best Blues Band and a special honorary award was given to the LVBN
by Shelly Brown of the State Theatre. During all of this, the group's
second CD, Creole Etouffee was completed and BC retired from the LVBN
to pursue a more progressive path for the band. During the recording
process, Wayne brought his brother Dave Smith (original member on
saxophone with Zen for Primates, Bummer Tent Records) to do a lead
on one of the songs Wayne wrote, "Many Miles". It was just
after this release that Dave Smith (sax/guitar) replaced Dave Small
who left to work for the Bryant Brothers Blues Brew. Creole Etouffee
won Best CD at the second annual Lehigh Valley Blues Awards in 2000
along with BC as Best Vocalist, Wayne Smith as Best Keyboardist and
the band as Best Blues Group. Spring of 2002, BC was hit head on in
a car accident coming home for a photo shoot at Lisa Lake's studio
for the Cover of Lehigh Valley Women's Magazine (produced by the Morning
Call Newspaper). This was the beginning of a 3-year fight for her
health. It was just after this release also that Kevin Brown was replaced
by Craig J. Coyle (we fondly call him "CJ" given to him
by Al G.). Al G. had formed his own group (Al G. & Shades of Blue),
and CJ was also his drummer. John SanFilippo (California Drum Shop)
filled in for CJ during this transition. After two years, CJ was going
to leave the Blues Crew to pursue a stint with Al's band because Al
G. was going to start booking them more progressively. We hired Bryan
Schreider (formerly with Mike Dugan and Blues Power) who was just
let go from Craig Thatcher's band. CJ (and Mary Hawkins-Bean, lead
singer) was also let go by Craig Thatcher in 1999 after a brief trial
with that concept. CJ then joined with Crosscut Saw for a short period
before joining the Blues Crew. It was in 2002 that BC's health deteriorated
from the car accident and she was scheduled for neck surgery in January
of 2003. This was a serious situation for the band. After hiring Bryan
Schreider, CJ decided not to leave and both drummers remained, splitting
the gigs. Bryan was just coming out of recovery from back surgery
and CJ was just starting back at school, so it was a good transition.
It was right after this decision that Bryan's nephew, Eli Greenbug
fell into the shallow end of a swimming pool and became a quadriplegic.
Trying to train Bryan was truly a challenge during this personal tragedy.
CJ filled in one night for Bryan at Pearly Bakers in Easton, PA and
Sarah Ayers strolled in. She wanted to form her own blues band and
was starting to scope out the blues scene. Sarah was also one of CJ's
former students at Wilson H.S. so it was a nice reunion. With this,
CJ approached Sarah (who's husband also happened to work at the same
company as BC's day job) about her subbing for BC, which was the beginning
of a new path forward. BC had the band booked through June of 2003
so this would allow Sarah to gain instant exposure and keep the band
together. BC taught Sarah all of her material and weaned off the gigs
earlier than planned because BC's mother died unexpectedly in Augusta,
GA on October 15th. When she returned from GA, it was only a few days
later when former bassist Al G. died of a sudden heart attack. BC
was also in the process of moving to a new residence in order to prepare
for the recovery period following the surgery. All of this happening
at once left the group in survival mode and that is exactly what happened.
BC's closest friends moved her, while she went through the process
of two funerals. BC was determined to make it to her final few gigs
and the last show was with long time friend, Lea Gilmore of Baltimore,
MD. The two of them had discussed for years about putting a show on
together. They decided not to postpone this event and performed on
January 4th at the Main Street Theatre in Quakertown, PA. It was a
gift because there was no time to plan or rehearse for this performance
and the band met with Lea and her keyboardist earlier that day to
go over the material. Wayne Smith also took on a major task at BC's
resistance. BC wanted to record her voice before this surgery and
with no time to make a CD, she chose to redo all her vocals on their
first recording. She started this back in August at Westwires Recording,
USA in Allentown, PA. Wayne Smith was insistent that he master the
CD, while he was busy working on his own material. When Wayne Becker
completed his portion of the project, Wayne Smith took over with sound
engineers Rick Statkus and Pete Davis at Signal Sound in Quakertown.
BC remembered that Al G. had recorded his original version of Hack's
on a cassette before Hack died of cancer. (Hack was the original owner
of Hack's in Bethlehem, PA. His wife and our dear friend Karen Kimber
who holds an annual benefit concert continues running Hack's. This
is where BC brought Koko Taylor and the Blues Machine for breakfast
after their concert at Mayfair.) So they added "Hack's"
as a new track on the CD in memory of Al G. BC dedicated the entire
project to her mother. This is a very passionate and tight knit group
and with both Al G. and BC gone, one major event was unfolding, the
annual BC & Al G. Birthday Bash in 2003. BC and Al G. learned
that their birthday's were a day apart (Jan. 30th & 31st respectively
and then Karen Kimber joined in with learning her birthday was also
on the 31st, same as Al's, which brought all three of them even closer).
This event has become one of the mainstays for this band every year
and it was going to continue with or without BC. Thanks to Thom Palmer,
The Crewtones (Nily Walters, Gina Treiber, and Pat Frace), Sarah and
the Blues Crew along with Al G.'s band, Shades of Blue, they put on
one hell of a bash in memory of Al G. It was a new year and new hope
was greatly needed. That came when BC returned and the reunion with
friends and the band was tremendous. BC was not to sing until July
of 2003, but Sarah lost her voice during a gig at the Bluetone Café
in April and called BC at home to help her find a replacement. BC
didn't know what to do and she came down to the Bluetone, got in front
of the microphone and sang her ass off. No one, including BC knew
what to expect and although she lost her voice following that weekend
covering for Sarah, she has fully recovere. Sarah Ayers now has her
own band, called Sarah's Rhythm Recipe and she took Bryan Schreiter
with her, giving both drummers full-time work. The Blues Crew schedule
continues to fill-in as the group just headlined another major gala
for the Aids Community Alliance in Carlisle, PA at the Theatre of
Performing Arts with the Deb Callahan Band of Philadelphia and Brother
Earl of Pittsburg. The band will be recording live at Godfrey Daniels
on Thursday, September 25th as a feature artist of the LVMA CD Showcase
weekend. October will busy with two festival concerts, one with Dona
Oxford, Shemekia Copeland's former keyboardist, up at the Blue Mountain
Summit in Andreas, PA on Sunday, October 5th and again at the Alba
Vineyard in NJ on October 18th and 19th with a two-day Pumpkin Festival.
As 2003 has been named "The Year of the Blues", the band's
title cut Unfinished Business has been accepted for Blues Revue Magazine's
CD compilation. BC and Lea Gilmore are putting on another performance
at Godfrey Daniels (February 21, 2004), hopefully to be recorded this
time, and BC & The Blues Crew will return to Café Classics
on Saturday, February 28th of next year. The band is starting to work
on new material for another CD in collaboration with "Chicago"
Carl Snyder who now works with Ivan Jackson a.k.a. Illinois Slim &
The Maxwell Street Band. And of course we have to share Wayne Smith
with Eric Steckel, as he is Eric's full-time drummer. We must be psychotic
as we continue to fall slave to our musical desires and inner passions
to play the music we. If BC had one goal she wishes to obtain in her
lifetime, it would be to travel abroad and domestically to perform
at festivals and special events. The recording label industry is in
such a state of chaos and the desire for the Blues to become as commercial
as Country has, is far beyond her means to deal with politically.
Life has new meaning to all of the members of this band and above
the music is family and friends. The blues community in the Lehigh
Valley is one to be reckoned it. It has evolved over many years as
musicians have regrouped among themselves to find the best chemistry
possible to pursue their performance schedules. All we know for sure
is that BC & The Blues Crew has become one of the elder members
of this blues community and that the wealth of talent in the blues
community continues to grow quantitatively and qualitatively despite
all the growing pains.
http://www.bcandthebluescrew.com
P. O. Box 126
Easton, PA
18044-0126
1 -800-241-6246
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