 Pat Long (lead singer and primary songwriter)
was part of both Welch and Long and New Rodeo with Kevin Welch. After New Rodeo split up, they formed Blue Rose Café
with Mike, Gary and Steve. Moving to Nashville shortly after the end of Blue Rose Café,
he briefly played in RiffRaff (again with Kevin, along with Mark Paden and Gary Hurt), and pursued a songwriting career.
Pat passed away in 2003. Learn more about Pat at the
Blue Rose Family site.
 Kevin Welch (lead guitarist)
moved to Nashville with Pat shortly after Blue Rose Café split up.
He is a successful songwriter; his songs have been recorded by Moe Bandy, Waylon Jennings,
Roger Miller, The Highwaymen, The Judds, Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire, Charlie Pride, Ricky Skaggs,
Randy Travis, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Trisha Yearwood and others. He's put out several albums,
first on Warners and now on the Dead Reckoning
label, which he co-owns with Kieran Kane. Kevin continues to perform worldwide.
 Gary Johnson (keyboards) moved to Los Angeles with Fast Fontaine in 1978, and has worked with a wide variety of performers from Del Shannon to Robben Ford to his current son jarocho band, Conjunto Jardin. He's also produced several records for Sabia, Word of Mouth and
Conjunto Jardin.
The version of "Conquistador" that he produced for a Procol Harum tribute CD was praised by Gary Brooker, Procol’s leader and the writer of the song: "The asking price is worth every penny just to have Conquistador by Conjunto Jardín – one of the most appealing ‘covers’ of Procol I’ve ever heard."
 Steve Grunder (bass)
was in the highly respected red dirt group, the Medicine Park All-Boy Derelict Band, before Blue Rose Café,
where he met Mike McCarty. Steve has played bass with The John Arnold Band for much of the last 22 years, as
well as in many other Oklahoma-based bands, including Quartermoon with John Hadley and Mike McCarty.
He's also involved with running Big Medicine Records.
 Mike McCarty (drummer)
played with the Holy Modal Rounders before returning to Oklahoma where he joined Steve in the
Medicine Park All-Boy Derelict Band. After Blue Rose Café, he played with several artists including Quartermoon,
The John Arnold Band, Country Gazette and Ray Wylie Hubbard. He is currently an exhibits technician at
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
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You Could've
Been There!
Blue Rose
Café toured the south
and southwest,
first in a van and an old pickup truck named Phyllis, and later in a
bus called Oscar. On the road almost constantly for its entire existence, the band survived all sorts of misadventures: being accidentally
tear-gassed by security when a fight broke out on the dance floor in front of them in Tulsa; being
lodged in a trailer so cold their breath turned to ice on the ceiling
in Steamboat Springs; finding half the road had fallen down the
mountainside on a shortcut to Ft. Collins, and more.
Here are a few of the places you could have seen them:
Arizona
The Yavapai Lodge, Grand Canyon
Arkansas
The Barn, Eureka Springs
New Orleans Hotel, Eureka Springs
Quiet Night, Eureka Springs
The Swinging Door, Fayetteville
TGI Friday's, Little Rock
Colorado
The Depot, Breckenridge
The Gables, Colorado Springs
Cripple Creek Inn, Cripple Creek
The Dillon Inn, Dillon
Farquahrt's, Durango
The Little Bear, Evergreen
Jack's, Ft. Collins
The Colorado Bar, Oak Creek
The Mishawaka Inn, Poudre Canyon
The Buffalo Chip, Steamboat Springs
The Chalet, Steamboat Springs
Kansas
The Wagon Wheel, Dodge City
Louisiana
Judah P.'s Backyard, New Orleans
Oklahoma
The Prancing Pony, Lawton
The Blue Onion, Norman
E. J.'s Club, Norman
High Horse Tavern, Norman
Beethoven's, Oklahoma City
The Bar Ditch, Stillwater
The Nine of Cups, Tulsa
Whiskers, Tulsa
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