Blues music streaming, free, with one click is what Blues Party Connection does better than anyone else.  There's no shortage of on line music web sites out there; but here's the only one that specializes in the really fun styles of blues that make the perfect soundtrack for good times.   Based on Brian Sullivan's two hour live broadcast radio show for Cumulus that ran for 5 years, Scott Armstrong and Brian have taken that popular formula and adapted it into an original and unique 24/7 blues presentation for the whole world to enjoy.

BRIAN SULLIVAN

Why the shades you may ask ?  We fear if you look into Brian's eyes, you might be hypnotized by ominous visions of mojo.  This could be a serious liability to us, if you're hypnotized while operating heavy machinery.

So how is it that a suspected mere mortal like Brian is privy to upper strata downloads from a crossroads in the sky ?   He won't tell us, sometimes he makes things up just to mess with us.  As the creative mind behind the development of Blues Party Connection, Brian is certainly onto something that strikes a chord with real music lovers.   40 plus years as a musician is also part of Brian's musical journey that's taken him through almost every metamorphosis that even butterfly's are known to be jealous of.   And yes, butterfly's are really cool.

The truth is, nobody really knows what's contained in Brian's proverbial cup of party fun.  What we do know, Brian sincerely  wishes to share it and see you all having a great time while listening to the blues.

SCOTT ARMSTRONG

Scott met Brian Sullivan while studying jazz drumming at a Kansas City studio where Brian was an instructor. After getting to know him, Scott hired Brian to fill-in as a guitarist in his band, while his regular guitar player was on vacation. The two became instant friends and soon found that they had much more in common than just music.

As a corporate business professional, and as a semi-professional musician, Scott has made a life-long study of great music productions and how they succeed. It is Scott's unique understanding of music, business, and the music business that prompted Brian Sullivan to request Scott take on a major supporting role with him in building this web site. Thankfully Scott agreed to handle some of the hard grown-up stuff it takes to make this proverbial pirate ship sail and the two now consult each other regularly on the development of Blues Party Connection as co-owners.

IT DIDN'T HAPPEN OVER NIGHT

Brian Sullivan grew up in a small town in South Western Missouri and started playing guitar when he was 8 years old. Though he didn't know it at the time, he was being exposed to blues through popular music of the 60's and 70's by bands like: Ten Years After; Black Sabbath; Rare Earth; Led Zeppelin; Deep Purple; Mahogany Rush; and hundreds of others. Great blues names like: Muddy Waters; Howlin' Wolf; BB King; Jimmy Reed; John Lee Hooker; etc., were appearing on Brian's radar because of things he read about the influences of the bands he was listening to; but blues never became the forefront of his thinking at the time.

Hellbent on just playing guitar for a living, Brian searched out any information about music he could find and by the mid 70's, he had his first bands performing for money at age 14. By the early 80's, he had a full-time professional band organized that was touring the United States club circuit. Playing every song played on pop stations was a challenge for that young band and even though playing original music is the way to make a name for yourself in music, Brian still recommends playing covers in any style, as a means for any young musician to learn their craft. “There's so much to learn” he says, “You have to learn; how to perform and get a crowd excited about you; how to get different sounds from your instrument; how to work with club owners; how to live on the road; how to get along with other musicians; how to promote yourself; I could go on and on about the important lessons of making it in music; but the only way to really learn is to do it”

By 1984, Brian felt the need for a music education and enrolled as a student at the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California. Studying by day with the worlds best jazz and studio musicians including: Joe Pass; Robin Ford; Larry Carlton; Scott Henderson; Frank Gambale; Tom Tedesco; Keith Wyatt; Howard Roberts and more,  Brian soon had insight to advanced harmony, where he would never be thrown a curve again, by any musician.  By night, Brian frequented the club scene around Los Angeles and got to know many of the early 80's music stars who based there. Working an occasional pick up gig to help pay the rent Brian was sometimes asked by LA artists, "could you play it less bluesy" ? Brian says, “it was frustrating to me that people in that scene wanted something different than what was in me”

Brian became a hired gun sideman through the 90's, playing guitar for the bands that paid the most and traveled least. Everything he'd learned until that point came into play through those years. Everything except blues that is. Brian recalls, “The bands all did music you could dance to and made lot's of money; but the standing ovation always came when I did a blues number and I wonder if that was my skill, or maybe people were just feeling relief from the crap we'd been playing all night”

In 1999, Brian Sullivan took a music curriculum he'd been writing for years while teaching part-time and formed a music school based on that curriculum. The approach was to study music both in a classical sense as it is taught in public schools and in a professional sense, based on blues and using one's ear to improvise. The school formed performing student bands and some variations of those groups are still performing today. It's during this time that Brian met Scott Armstrong, Blues Party Connection co-owner, who was at the time a drumming student of a fellow teacher in Brian's circle. Scott volunteered to be the drummer for some of Brian's student groups. Scott recalls, “I worked with the student groups to help Brian teach the kids; but soon found he had them organized better than a lot of the so called professional musicians I worked with”

Brian moved to Southern Florida in late 2003 to start writing songs and establish a music career as a player again. It's during that time he attended a large blues festival and saw many of the ideas he had about music, galvanized into a perfect picture of all his musical experiences as they related to blues. Brian didn't have a gig or a band; but he did have a beach to soul-search on and the phone number of his friend Scott Armstrong. The two continued to talk about what they saw happening with music as friends.

Brian returned to the area where he grew up in 2004. Hoping to finance some of his current musical visions, he bought a house, hoping to capitalize on a quick property flip. While doing this, Brian met the love of his life Debbie Rockenhauser, a blues singer from Washington DC (Debbie is the female voice heard on Blues Party Connection). He also heard no blues being represented in his home town area and created a radio show called The Saturday Night Blues Party. Brian and Debbie soon found that a property flip would not be an option on a place they now called home. Scott Armstrong appeared on Brian's live blues radio show and wheels started to turn for the two music business friends who had long envisioned a way to work together on a music media project. On the seventh of May 2010, Brian and Scott launched Blues Party Connection, free blues music streaming 24/7. Brian and Debbie are working on their first blues record with Debbie as the singer / songwriter and Brian as the guitarist / co-writer / arranger and music director.  The band is called DJ & The Mudcats.  Scott has also formed a blues group in the Kansas City area, which hopes to work as an independent recording group, do lot's of live shows and work with Brian and Debbie as well. Scott's band is called Blue 'Nuff.

It's a strange path to the blues. Brian, Scott, and Debbie will tell you this without hesitation. For all of them, that path wasn't always obvious; but now it is. They really believe it's the truth set to music.

Web: http://bluespartyconnection.com/