The Orange Blossom "Super Special" — Performed in VAQ-131's Ready Room

Описание: Performed by The Fuzzy Bottom Boys Navy Bluegrass Band in VAQ-131 "Lancers" Ready Room — aboard the USS Constellation (CV 64) in late May of 2003.

The FBB:
Paul Carelli - Guitar
Brandon Renna - Fiddle
Wayne French - Banjo
Don Langford - Guitar
Jeremy Allen - Electric Bass

HOW WE BECAME A BLUEGRASS BAND AT SEA:
One interesting note about the FB Boys is that even though we were all deployed aboard "The Connie" for nearly 7 months straight...we never knew each other. The fact is, we were just returning from duty in the Persian Gulf and on our way south to Perth, Australia for some R&R (before returning to San Diego for the ship’s decommissioning).
One evening, Paul was walking down a passageway by the medical department and overheard someone (Brandon) playing a fiddle. Then a few days later, Wayne passed through that same area and overheard Brandon too. (Thank goodness for Brandon’s diligent practice.) To make a long story short, Brandon knew a few other guys, introduced us, and then we all made it a point to get together as soon as possible.
After all that time at sea...we were ready to pick! So, in about three weeks, we got together, practiced, and decided to play for the steel beach picnic. In all, we played a total of four shows: Steel Beach Picnic; VS-38RR; VAQ-131; and VMFA-323.

WE NEEDED A NAME TO CALL OURSELVES:
In trying to find a name to call ourselves, we wanted to use Paul’s call sign “fuzzy” in it. Also, one of the songs we were doing was from the fictitious band “Soggy Bottom Boys” (from the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?). Since we didn’t take ourselves seriously...we slammed the two together and proclaimed ourselves with this very prestigious and unique title.

It was a blast playing with these fine gentlemen! But, we all knew that the clock was ticking, and would bring an end to our band (and the ship) as we knew it. So, despite our crazy work schedules -we relished every moment and gave it all we could, and the results are what you see here. It was far from perfect, possibly “diamonds in the rough” you might say.
We enjoyed this moment in time -of shared friendship, practice, and the chance to try to make some great music together one last time...before we reached the pier and had to say “fair winds and following seas” shipmate.