(Big Medicine Records) In the '70s, Kevin Welch played guitar in an Oklahoma-based band called Blue Rose Cafe, featuring his dear friend Pat Long as lead singer. In early 2003 Pat passed away at age 49, and later that year the remaining members of the band got together in Norman, Oklahoma to play a reunion/benefit for Pat's daughters. Both a CD and a 2-DVD set of that concert have now been released, and are available from the Blue Rose Cafe website or CD Baby (CD only)--all sales will benefit Pat's two daughters. Greg Johnson, of Oklahoma City's famed Blue Door venue, wrote the liner notes:

It was 1975 and the Norman, Oklahoma-based band Blue Rose Cafe was on the cutting edge of the progressive country/rock sound that was popular in the American Southwest. Five young Okie musicians, Pat Long, Kevin Welch, Gary Johnson, Mike McCarty and Steve Grunder, got together and decided to mix country, folk, rock and pop styles with a little swing, jazz, bluegrass and blues influence to create music that still sounds fresh today, some 27 years later. Long was the lead singer and principal songwriter, Welch held down the lead guitar duties, Johnson played keyboards and the rhythm section was Grunder on bass and McCarty on drums. Welch and Johnson also sang lead on occasion, but it was really Pat Long's band, featuring his own songs and many written by the band's mentor, John Hadley--then an art professor at the University of Oklahoma. The band did a lot of other songs as well, introducing listeners to many great songwriters such as Willis Alan Ramsey, Bill Caswell, Kinky Friedman, John Hiatt and Woody Guthrie, all included on this disc. But it is on Pat's songs and the others he sang that the band really found its identity and that is what we need to remember now.

On a hot August Oklahoma night, the four surviving original members, along with Norman musicians John Arnold and Bob French and a few special guests, re-created those days with a performance that was both exciting and healing. In front of over 200 friends and fans, the band gave Pat a fitting goodbye on his songs "I'll Be Seeing You Sometime," "Separate Waves," "I Wish I Was Home," "Long Way to Travel" and "You'll Never Be Alone," as well as on a handful of cover songs that Long brought to the band.

What you hold in your hands now has to qualify as the very first Blue Rose Cafe record, but let's not mistake this for only nostalgia. Pat Long's songs deserve a listen by the countless roots and singer/songwriter fans who today come to hear Kevin Welch on a regular basis. Now, when Welch sings John Hiatt's "Train to Birmingham," as he does on most nights in clubs, coffeehouses and festivals all across the world, it will be in tribute to his dear friend. Without Pat Long's life there never would have been a Blue Rose Cafe, and without his death this album never would have had to be made. But it did have to be made. For Pat, for Kevin and Mike and Gary and Steve and everyone who ran with the crazy circus that was Blue Rose Cafe. And most of all for Pat's parents, Jack and Barbara, and for his kids, Olivia and Cassie.

In my 30 years in music, I have never been so moved as I was on the night this recording was made, and hearing it back now only makes it better. Even if you never knew Pat or heard Blue Rose Cafe, listen to this recording with your heart wide open, maybe on a warm summer night or early fall morning, both of which reflect the beauty that was this band. I plan to listen to it again right now over a nice warm cup of coffee on the porch of the Blue Door, a place that could never have happened without the spirit of the Blue Rose Cafe.

Greg Johnson
The Blue Door
Oklahoma City

A Reunion & Tribute To Pat Long was recorded live on August 2, 2003 at the University Club in Norman, Oklahoma. Blue Rose features the band's original members, Kevin Welch who (along with John Arnold) takes over for the late Pat Long on lead vocals and guitar, Mike McCarty on drums, Steve Grunder on bass and Gary Johnson on keyboards, accordion and vocals. Joining them in this tribute and labor of love are, John Arnold on vocals and guitar, Bob French on lead guitar and vocals, John Hadley on guitar and vocals, Mark Dulac on fiddle, Nick Rorick on mandolin and Mike Long on banjo. The set list is a mix of Pat Long penned originals (including a co-write with Kevin Welch), as well as songs from the pens of Kinky Friedman, B. Caswell, John Hadley, W.A. Ramsey, Woody Guthrie and John Hiatt.

The tribute moves through a brilliant mix of styles and tempos that range in from waltzing ballads to two-steppers and even a jazzy jam. As odd as the subject matter may seem, a gem is the pretty "Sweet Allis Chalmers," a bluesy, waltzing ode to an old tractor, told from the world weary perspective of a man who's life is working his land and all that he's sacrificed over the years for it. Two other waltzing ballads, "Blue-Eyed Cowboy" is about small town regrets and a man's loneliness and desperation, while "Blue Rose Cafe" is a song that tells the tale about the club from where the band took it's name.

The outstanding "The Ballad Of Spider John" is a ballad in the traditional sense and given a bluesy delivery, it's the story of man who wound up on the wrong side of the law and spent his life running from his past. What's become a Kevin Welch staple over the years, is John Hiatt's tale of a rambler "Train To Birmingham" and Kevin and the band offer up a stellar rendition, overflowing with heartaching loneliness. The band provides a strong, breezy two-stepping cover of "The Silver Eagle Express," with accordion giving it a slightly Cajun flavor. Another standout is their rollicking two-stepping cover of Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi," that mixes a touch of Cajun and bluegrass with some Bakersfield guitar riffs and results in a delightful hoedown. "Painted Lady" is a mid-tempo country rocker about a dreamer who dreams of living in the old west.

The balance of the songs are Pat Long compositions and there's not a single clunker among them. "I Wish I Was Home" is a smartly written country-rocker, a western tale of regret about a young man coming of age, leaving home and falling into the outlaw life of a gunslinger. "Separate Waves" is a mid-tempo ballad that addresses making choices, in this case leaving the trappings of fame behind and moving on to something more meaningful. While telling the story about sharing burdens along the road of life, the stunning "Long Way To Travel" incorporates a clever tempo change, starting out as a folksy ballad before kicking into a terrific gospel-bluegrass two-stepper. Tempo changes are also on tap on "You'll Never Be Alone," a song that starts as a bluesy, poignant ballad of a mournful old widower who doesn't realize all he has inside him to share. The tempo changes a little past midpoint and the band goes into a outstanding jazzy-blues-jam-fusion instrumental, similar in style to the Allman Brothers Band. The album's highlight and most poignant moment is the mid-tempo country-rocker that's the band's real tribute to Pat, "I'll Be Seeing You Sometime," a song that sings of parting ways but how heart and home will always be in Oklahoma.

A Reunion & Tribute To Pat Long is a remarkable effort from a remarkable band of songwriters and musicans. Kevin Welch long ago proved himself a stellar songwriter, singer and musician in his own right and he's in top form as he handles the task of taking the lead role in this reunion and tribute to his good friend. The musicianship and a harmony vocals from the entire band are nothing short of breathtaking. Their choice of covers is strong and impeccable, but it's Pat Long's original songs that standout. Although Blue Rose Cafe didn't last that long, and like Pat Long, weren't known much beyond the Oklahoma region they played, this tribute brings to light a little known but highly talented band and singer/songwriter in Pat Long. According to the Blue Rose Cafe website, there's a good deal of music from Pat & the rest of the original Blue Rose Cafe preserved on tape, most of it live with a few studio tracks. They're working on putting the music together to be released on CD shortly. In the meantime, if you visit the Blue Rose Cafe site, they've made a few of Pat's tracks, both with Blue Rose Cafe and after the band broke up, available for a listen. Pat Long and Blue Rose Cafe are very much worth checking out. And until those original tracks are released, as a starting point, there's A Reunion & Tribute To Pat Long, a sterling gem that unearths and acquaints us with this relatively unknown and long forgotten, but greatly talented band and it's influential lead singer/songwriter.  

Standout Tracks: "I Wish I Was Home," "The Silver Eagle Express," "Separate Waves," "The Ballad Of Spider John," "I'll Be Seeing You Sometime," Long Way To Travel," You'll Never Be Alone," Do Re Mi," "Train To Birmingham"

On The Net: www.kevinwelch.com 

http://www.somekindofparadise.com/blue_rose_cafe/

http://www.neilkingsley.com/bluerose.htm

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bluerosecafe/

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack December 2004