Artisan Blue Band is a power house quartet featuring relentless improvisation and top notch song writing. Their sound is rich in traditional Blues, Funk, Jazz and and R & B. They put on a live show that captures the audience and sets new highs. They formed over the last five years as a house band at Artsquest, hosting jams and backing Ginger & The Schnappses.

Joe Mixon - Guitar, Harp and Vocals
Joe has toured extensively in Costa Rica, India, Nepal and on the east coast of the US. He has toured and opened for Black Oak Arkansas, The Marshall Tucker Band, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap and Foghat. He has been writing and recording original music for 25 years. He educated hundreds of musicians in his 27 year career as Director of Jazz and Guitar Studies at Lebanon Valley College.
Vernon J. Mobley -  Drums and Vocals
Vern has been behind the drum kit for more than 40 years.  His intense yet delicate drumming style has been a feature in every genre of music he plays.  The Philadelphia native can always been seen on his way to the gig playing with his own band Fusion Jazz Trio as well as Post Junction(Funk), Cunningham & Associate(Classic Rock), Keystone(Gerry Garcia Tribute Band) as well as others.  He also can also be seen sharing a stage with music artists such as Gene Perla, Rio Clemente and Greg Farnese.
Brian Jon Bortz – Bass, Guitar and Vocals
In his five decade career Brian has played across the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. He has backed major show-business stars – George Burns, Joan Rivers, Don Rickles, Jay leno, Bobby Rydell, Patti Page and Clay Aiken to name a few. He played for the President and Vice President of the US and enjoyed a 10-year run as bassist for the Freddy Awards. 
George Grund -  Keys, Sax and Vocals                                                 George has a B.A. in Music Theory, and is a freelance musician in PA, NJ, and NY. He served in the 399th and 3rd Infantry Div. Army Bands as instrumentalist and arranger. From 1993 to 2008, George was the pianist for the Rob Stoneback Big Band and has rejoined the band since 2017. He performed with the Coasters, Drifters, Ben E. King, Lee Oskar, Lisa Simone, Sterling Koch, the Buzz Jones Big Band, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. For 8 years in Arizona, George performed with many of the top jazz musicians in the Phoenix area and the popular band Flipside-45.​

Debut CD  release: "MEAN LIFE"

Joe Mixon 

MIXONMUSIC.COM

ARTISAN BLUE BAND