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More on BHB - the buds
BHB, now "The Buds", is:

Bryan Harrison
Guitar, Vocals and Harmonica

Jim McLaren
Guitar, Harmonica and Vocals

Elisa M Welch
Octave Mandolin, Pennywhistle, Keys and Vocals

Dave Coan
Djembe/Percussion

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June 7, 2009
I have to tell you I'm more excited about our band now than ever. In the past two years things have shifted in a big way. The direction and focus of the Bryan Harrison Band, as it were, had long before changed, from consisting of me pulling musician friends together to play primarily my original music, into something much bigger. For a long time I've wanted to change the name of the band. Even before the current line-up and format. Finally! The name showed up.

In light of the little niche we've carved out playing farmers' markets as our primary focus, and our resulting "Organic Tunes" tour, calling ourselves "The Buds" seemed a perfect fit for us. Suddenly we found a name illustrative of our little collective. Multi-faceted as it is, clearly, it's one we all could get excited about.

We've been working on completing our first full-band CD, working title of which has been "Organic Tuneage", so the timing was now if ever we were going to find a new, more representative, and hopefully catchy (or at least kinda fun) name for the group. We've had a great deal of help from numerous brilliant-minded friends, family and fans of BHB, for which we are oh-so grateful. It's been quite a process. It's the kind of thing where you know you'll know it's it when it shows up. Deadline pressure always seems to help get things done in my world, too.

Finally, just the other day we made a list of all the most memorable suggestions, each of us prioritizing our top five faves, or so, and making further suggestions amongst ourselves. "the buds" showed up.

We've established a bare-bones MySpace at MySpace.com/thebudsmusic, as well as a new band email account: thebudsmusic@gmail.com. We've also registered domain names, which we will announce as soon as we get it all set up.

Also, we are very pleased to be releasing an EP sampler of a few songs from the aforementioned forthcoming CD. We'll make that available shortly here too. We sold a handful of copies this weekend, debuting the new band name at the Orinda Farmers' Market Saturday, June 6, 2009. It was a very special day, musically. The shift we all agreed later we felt had a melding affect on our playing. Families gathered around to watch and listen more like a concert for a time than a local farmers' market. We had this sweet three year old boy who hung out with us for a looong time with his grandma, transfixed with every song. Finally, she told us his dad plays guitar and he's already learning. He seemed as engaged with Dave's djembe as he did with the guitars and octave mandolin.

For me, it was our rendition of "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" when the beautiful bonding really first happened. From there, everything was more magical than ever. "White Rabbit" near the end was a cool highlight, too. One of my new songs, in particular too, carried the tone of a unified band, "If Tomorrow's Gone".

Anyway, we're all invigorated in announcing the new name for what has been BHB, "The Buds".

peace 'n love,
Bryan