Back To Blue

 

Years active: 2004-2014

 

Location: Waxahachie & Dallas, TX

 

Personnel: Paul Blanchard (bass, vocals)/Rick Fontaine (guitar, vocals, keys)/Carl Edmison (drums, vocals)/Eric Jordan (lead vocals/guitar)

 

Info: 

 

The story of Back To Blue began in early 2004 in a bar one Saturday night in Waxahachie, Texas. Eric Jordan – having recently just moved from the tiny town of Meridian, Mississippi - had just finished performing a solo set to a packed house at the Creola Café. Fellow musician Rick Fontaine, formerly of Dallas-based band Davenport, was in attendance and the two were introduced. Upon being asked by Jordan if he liked what he heard, Fontaine – who was immediately struck by Eric’s soulful rasp but not wanting to sound overly enthusiastic – replied, “It was alright.” The two immediately struck up a friendship and began performing regularly as an acoustic duo at various haunts around Ellis County, including the Creola Café and the College Street Pub.

 

Back To Blue’s first full band gig was opening for Memphis alt-country heroes Lucero under the name, “Wendy, Can I Play Friday?”. Obviously, a new band name was desperately needed. After rejecting names like “Hitman 45” and “The Last Remnants”, the moniker “Back To Blue” was settled on. The name was derived from the lyrics to the first song Rick and Eric wrote together, “God On a Good Day”. “It just had a nice ring to it", according to Fontaine.

 

Several years and several rhythm section personnel later, the band’s sound had evolved from a heavier modern rock sound to a rootsy southern-style blues rock – or as the band likes to describe it – “Southern Gothic Blues”. In 2007, Back To Blue self-released their first full-length record, The 13th Day, with bassist Michael Scudiero. The band didn’t have a drummer at the time, so all the percussion tracks on the album were programmed via MIDI by Rick Fontaine. Shortly thereafter the guys invited drummer Carl Edmison to join the band. He’s been providing the “thunder” behind the band ever since. Eventually, Scudiero left and Fontaine’s old friend (and former bandmate in Davenport) Paul Blanchard joined on bass. Blanchard’s vocal and songwriting abilities augmented the band’s sound substantially.

 

Momentum continued building for the band, both from positive word-of-mouth from their frequent performances around north Texas and from internet exposure. In 2008 their song “Jerusalem Blues” won the top spot in the Blues category on OurStage.com.

 

2011 saw the release of their second album, Songs For Conjuring, Volume 1: The Delicate Plague. It was produced entirely by the band and funded via a successful Kickstarter.com campaign. The band’s sound had evolved yet again, with lead singer Eric Jordan’s Mississippi roots coming to the fore on swampy blues tracks like “No Name Blues”, “Trouble On My Mind” and “Somebody’s Calling My Name”.

 

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