Another musician that I met on Cayamo 2011 back in February was guitarist Chad Fagg, one half (vocalist Melissa Barelmann being the other half) of Just Blue, a Melbourne, Florida-based Folk/Rock/Country musical duo. We briefly spoke during a Chuck Cannon show one night and from there we agreed to do this email interview about the music of Just Blue. I missed out when they performed in one of the Open Mike competitions on the boat, but fortunately (as you can see below)–friends filmed it for the duo. My thanks to Chad and Melissa for the interview.

Tim O’Shea: In talking about the formation of Just Blue, it was noted “moments of serendipity have followed Just Blue since Melissa Barelmann (vocals) and Chad Fagg (guitars, backing vocals) met in early 2006, brought together by a love of simple, personal songs” Can you talk about some of the moments of serendipity that have occurred in the band’s history?

Chad Fagg: How we met seemed to be destiny. My wife and I were part of an online gaming community and we were attending an event at a local bar. The bar had kareoke going on and by the second song I remarked that they had already gone back to the real cds. My wife, knowing that I have wanted to work with a female vocalist, turned to me and said ‘No that is Melissa, she is part of our group. Maybe she wants to be your female vocalist.’ So I approached her and asked if she wanted to try to put something together. A few days past and I wasn’t able to reach her. Figuring that she had decided that every idea sounds great in a bar that maybe she had decided to decline. Fortunatley she hadn’t.

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