Brian Blauser, a native of West Jefferson, Ohio began documenting musicians in the early '60's while attending Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The Four Preps and flamenco guitarist, Carlos Montoya were a couple of acts he shot along with many local musicians. Brian describes music as, " a special part of my life. I can't carry a tune or play an instrument, but I enjoy listening to a diverse selection of music and I love to photograph live performances."

After a three-year tour of duty with the army and a brief stay in Los Angeles, Brian returned to Athens in 1970 and founded B&B Studios, a commercial photo studio with an old college friend, John Berry. However, the day he got out of the Army he began to photograph musicians again, Buzzy Linhart in New York and later Joe Cocker and Leon Russell in Los Angeles. Upon returning to Athens he continued to photograph musicians in his spare time. There was much activity in the local music scene as well as many national acts that appeared there.

In the fall of '88, Brian began documenting Mountain Stage, a two hour live radio/TV show broadcast on PBS when the show presented a "Louisiana Cajun & Zydeco Review." A few months earlier he was smitten with Cajun and Zydeco music when Rolling Stone hired him to photograph the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. When he heard there was a radio show presenting Cajun and Zydeco music in West Virginia, he had to check it out. Brian has been going back to Mountain Stage ever since and has become their house photographer. In the fall of 2003 Mountain Stage produced a coffee table book titled, "20 Years of Mountain Stage" which features many of his photographs of artists' performances.

During the early '90's he collaborated with Dan Earlewine, a world-renowned author and guitar repairman. Together they produced a series of photos and articles for Guitar Player, a nationally distributed magazine. These works featured artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King and Buddy Guy.

B&B Studios has now morphed into a stock photo agency, supplying images of musicians to the music industry and an outlet for a series of limited edition prints that features musicians he has photographed over the years. In the last few months Brian has seen some startling new developments with his limited edition art prints thanks to his associate, Tina Triplett. They now come with personalized digital mats specific to a particular artist, which adds another dimension to the photographs. Tina's ability to create the right "feel" for the mats surrounding the prints has really enhanced them.

At present day, Brian still resides in Athens, Ohio and can be found in a number of local venues photographing musicians. His photographs have recently been featured in a number of galleries around the area. To view his new work, go to the website at www.bandbstudios.com and click on the multi-panel image gallery from the main menu.