Aubry Harris said something unusual happened Wednesday night
at his restaurant, Two Frogs Grill. One of his customers came in
that night not because of seeing roadside advertisements for the
restaurant. This one pulled off the interstate to eat because he
heard about the place on the newest compact disc playing on his
stereo.
The song that attracted the traveler's attention was "Two Frogs
Boogie," one of the original recordings on the new live CD by Oreo
Blue, the Arkansas blues-based band well-known to Ardmore and
southern Oklahoma fans.
Saxophonist Brian Crowne said the song -- and video that is
included on the enhanced CD by the group -- was written on a whim
during an earlier trip to play in Ardmore.
"We were in a long trip from Texarkana to Ardmore and we've
always liked Aubry and Angela and everybody else at Two Frogs. Of
course, we have a great fan base in Ardmore, but we really like the
food at Two Frogs," Crowne said. "And, we were just driving down the
road and talking about the different things we liked about it and
how funny things are, so I said, 'Well, let's just write a song
about it.'"
Crowne said he pulled out a notebook and the group started
writing.
"It's just a real simple, little tune, but it came off being
really fun," he said. "It talks about Jack playing piano and there's
a line in it called, 'Aubry's wearing black, picking blues in the
back.' Hopefully people that go there can relate to a couple of the
lines in the song and it's just kind of festive, kind of like that
place is."
Two Frogs should be plenty
festive Saturday night, when Oreo Blue returns for a special CD
release party to promote the group's newest recording -- "Ten
Down/Live at the Bypass." This is the second live recording done by
Oreo Blue, the first being "Live By Demand" in 1996.
"It's a live album we recorded New Year's Eve in Joplin, Mo., at
a place called The Bypass. It's to commemorate our 10th
anniversary," Crowne said.
The CD features 14 songs, including 10 originals and four covers,
and includes the "Two Frogs Boogie" music video, which Crowne said
will play on any CD ROM and some DVDs.
"Everything's fresh. We don't like revamping material. It's no
fun for anybody else. Especially not us," Crowne said.
The disc is full of the high-energy blues for which the band is
known, thanks to help from an energetic sell-out crowd at The
Bypass. Crowne said The Bypass was a logical place to do the live
recording, and a sentimental one, as well.
"First off, that area's been real supportive of us through the
years. We've got a real strong following and it's a place where we
always feel like we can go and do our show and not necessarily have
to play a bunch of dance covers," he said. "And the place has got
great energy. And logistically speaking, it worked out great,
timewise, as far as looking at our schedule and where could we do a
show where we think we could get a good energy between the band and
the crowd. And this room is set up well for the actual logistics of
doing the recording of it live. It was packed and it was a lot of
fun."
While Crowne doesn't have a favorite song on the live CD -- which
includes everything from "the almost-Latin blues feel of 'I'm
Standing Here' to the driving rhythm of John Lee Hooker's 'Dimples'
to the implied life's confessions of 'Thing's I've Done and Seen' --
he said it's all new music with a familiar feel.
"It's going to be similar in style (to previous releases), but I
feel like our writing is something that's always evolving and being
kind of be reminiscent of where we are musically and where we are in
our life, too," Crowne said. "I think there's a good variety of
blues-oriented music on this CD and we've had some people who've
bought this CD or they've seen us and sent us e-mails and said they
think this is our best CD that we've put out yet. None of the songs
sound the same, but I think they have a common denominator, so it's
a good variety."
Crowne said The Tulsa World entertainment editor reviewed the new
release and commented on the lyrical depth of the songs.
"He said he really enjoyed the lyrics in the songs because a lot
of blues artists, especially, seem to be real cliché in what they
write and we strive to not be. So, hopefully, we're recreating
ourselves and our music so that it's interesting," he said.
The live CD was officially released Feb. 15 in Parsons, Kan., and
from that point on, CD release parties are being conducted at every
stop along the tour. He's looking forward to the Ardmore stop.
"This will be our Ardmore CD release party," Crowne said. "We
always enjoy coming to Ardmore. Our music is well received down
there. We're looking forward to a good night."
The band starts playing at 10 p.m. Saturday. The cover charge is
$8.
