The Blue Party Band is a music-making, party-throwing funk fest made up of six musicians all shaping the energy of the band in their own way. The members of the band are Reid Martin bringing vocal, guitar and banjo skills to the table; George Stathakes throwing in some guitar, bouzouki, papoose and vocals; Natalie Mae keying, fiddlin’ and also chiming in with some female vocals; Al Small, also known as T., running up and down the bass; Alex Bachari picking on the guitar; and, lastly, Ross McIntire keeping the beat sick and steady on the drums.
The Blue Party Band started off as just that, not only a band but, rather, a party jumping from house party to house party, needing only a venue to get the festivities started. Now it is performing for 150 plus people on average at the booked venues. It is based out of one of the most musically rich cities of the South: New Orleans. The band members met one another in a class at Loyola University and the birth of their folksy, funky, party sound was born.
The Blue Party Band is an independent band; meaning they have not sold their tune souls to any label in hopes of stardom, but embarked on sharing their music to any and all, on their own accord.  Booking all of its shows proved to be a challenging feat with a significantly impressive outcome, considering the band played over 100 shows from October 2010 to October 2011. Most of its tour is primarily in the Southeast and Midwest. Some venues the band has played on the tour are Tipitina’s in New Orleans, Voodoo Fest and Starkville, which has a significant placement on the tour, considering this will be its seventh show here.
“Starkville is hands down one of our favorite towns to play. Over the last two years, we feel like we’ve made a good dent in the music community here and would like to see our numbers keep growing,” Martin said. “We plan on moving to bigger venues soon and hopefully getting on future festivals, such as Bulldogs Bash. We’ve also made some great friends in town over the last couple of years because we make it a point to hang out with people that come to shows and become a part of the community,” Martin said.
The style of music The Blue Party Band exemplifies is what the band members describe as “Ameriparty,” which is a combination of Americana and party. When I asked Jesse McCraw, a long time friend and fan of the band, how she would describe its music, her answer summed up the band’s music adequately.
“It is hard to put a finger on the right definition of the style the band has, but the best definition I can think of is like a folky type sound with an ‘in your face upbeat’ rock type nature and a tinge of pop,” McCraw said.
The folk, rock, pop flavor The Blue Party Band proves time and time again to age-old fans and newcomers alike, that music makes the party contagious.  You have a chance to catch this party fever and dance to the infectious Ameriparty beat for yourself this Saturday at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern.