FAYETTEVILLE Blending Blues

FAYETTEVILLE — Rachel Fields was minding her own musical business, playing a gig with the accompaniment of a drummer.

Her drummer recognized a friend of his, Larry Brick, and asked him to sit in for a few songs. Brick took him up on the offer.

“He came up and sat down. It was just magical,” Fields says. “I’d never connected with someone like that musically before.”

Or, as it would turn out, personally. The two started playing music together almost immediately after that first meeting, then became friends. About six months after that impromptu gig, they were married.

That was about three years ago, and the duo has been making music together ever since. Together, Brick and Fields and their backing band of Eureka Springs musicians - the Brick Fields Gospel Blue Band - are the house band at the New Delhi Cafe in Eureka. The group plays there each Friday and Saturday evening and early on Sundays for gospel brunch.

But it was a gig away from Eureka that earned them what they hope is their big chance - a trip to Memphis, Tenn., to perform at the International Blues Challenge in early February.

Brick and Fields played ata blues jam in Rogers, where Liz Lottman, president of the Ozark Blues Society, saw their act. She encouraged them to perform at the OBS Blues Challenge, which took place as part of Bikes, Blues & Hot Rods, Too in late September.

From the pool of entrants, the Brick Fields band was selected as the winner, earning its members a trip to Memphis to represent Northwest Arkansas and a spot on the bill of the Blues in the Natural State concert, a roundup of blues talent that takes the stage Saturday night at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville.

Also performing during Blues in the Natural State are Nathan Aronowitz, Jeff Chaz, 100 Proof, Isayah Warford and more.

In a live setting, Fields says her band will play a combination of original material and some of the oldfashioned gospel numbersand spirituals they perform for the weekly gospel brunch.

Like their originals, those songs all have meaning for Fields.

“It comes from deep inside. You can tell when I don’t believe in (the songs),”she says.

Believing is a big part of the equation for Fields.

She and Brick call their original tunes “gospel blues,” and many are based on the couple’s collective faith.

“It’s very real. It’s very emotional,” she says.

Brick and Fields have released one previous album, a collection of mellow acoustic tunes.

The full band is currently recording the next project, a CD of mostly original material Fields expects to be released early next year.