Welcome Home: The Planetary Blues Band CD Release Party

Planetary-Blues-Band-1Rising Valparaiso-based blues-rock group The Planetary Blues Band (PBB) celebrate the release of their new album, Once Upon A Time In The South Loop" with a CD Release Party at the Franklin House, 58 S. Campbell St., Valparaiso, Friday, June 7. 9 p.m. Free. Info: (219) 707-5468 or https://www.facebook.com/events/403989526367053/?fref=ts.

Other upcoming show dates: Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago (Friday, June 28); headlining the Indy Criterium Cycling Race & Festival (Saturday, July 13); Leroy's Hot Stuff in Porter (Friday, August 9).

'Legend'-ary Memories: At Legends on May 15, a capacity crowd of PBB friends and followers were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime memory: Blues great (and Legends proprietor) Buddy Guy joining the group onstage, performing a few songs with PBB during the latter's CD Release Party.

Giving Back: The Planetary Blues Band are presently donating half of their song sales to the Fender Music Foundation charity - @GiveMusicLife #musicforgood.

This unique trio of brothers (Martin Schaefer-Murray, guitar-vocals; Michael Schaefer-Murray, guitar-vocals; Bobby Schaefer-Murray, bass; also Nick Evans, drums) got their start playing, and being influenced by, the Blues. The band was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1999 in their mother's basement, where they spent countless hours learning entire albums by Chicago Blues greats like Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and Son Seals. From there, over the course of the past ten-plus years, Planetary has held onto those roots while expanding outward into various other corners of the musical universe.

"We decided to keep it simple, and write with the Blues as our focus. The idea for this album, and our albums to come, is to explore the Blues genre as fully and concisely as possible." - Martin Schaefer-Murray in All Access Magazine interview (read entire interview here: http://allaccessmagazine.com/2013/04/25/the-planetary-blues-band/).

With the release of Once Upon A Time In The South Loop, The Planetary Blues Band take a giant step towards fulfilling their goals - "pushing our new album, getting more radio play, and gigging as much as possible....(also to) work, write songs, and pay tribute where it is due.

"We know the blues scene and we know our unique selling points. A plan is in place. Any goal without a plan is a wish, and we have big goals."