The Blues Crew consists of Marc Brown (Athabascan) on guitar and vocals, Eddie Stevens on sax, Charley Hard on keyboard, Randy Barker on drums and Robert Smith on bass. They have been playing together for about four years and have already released five cassettes and several CD's that have sold thousands of copies locally. The group's most recent fame came with a victory in the battle of the bands held at the Greyhound lounge. The Crew was awarded the privilege of opening for ZZ top.

Besides touring all over Alaska for years, Marc has played after concert parties for the Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Travis Tritt, and Huey Lewis. Marc Brown and the Blues Crew have also opened for sold out performances by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Eddie Shaw and the J Geils Band in Fairbanks. Their 2nd time opening for a big name act at the Carlson Center was August of 2000, where they opened for Jethro Tull.

August 5, 1999 Marc Brown and The Blues Crew rocks the stage at a sold out concert of 5,000 people. Three weeks before, Marc submits his 5th cassette release to the ZZ Top Battle of the Bands committee. Then four nights before the "big night," the greyhound lounge of Fairbanks hosted the finals where twelve bands competed for the winner takes all prize. After six bands, Marc Brown and the Blues Crew came out with a blistering set of blues rock that no one could touch. They were on fire! After sitting through the other six bands sets, the audience got up and started dancing. Being the hardest working band in Alaska, these 4 diverse men are no stranger to working a crowd.

After a few moments of tallying, the five judges sent a delegate up to the stage and he announced that Marc Brown and the Blues Crew were indeed the winners. It was the most awesome feeling in the world! They were ecstatic!!! Marc couldn't believe that he was going to be the first Native to play to a sold out concert at the Carlson center. So, they came out smoking hot with Marc Brown on slide guitar, playing and singing a song that he called "Standing at the Crossroads." This was Marc's biggest hit on the local radio stations, where it was played as many as 20 times a day on the classic rock station, 95.9 and on the pop station 98.1 during the summer of '98.

The clapping and cheering were almost deafening, and seemed louder than the music. This kicked the band into overdrive, where they ripped into some more originals like "keep on smiling," "Still got the blues" and "Don't let me go." Having 5,000 people screaming for more even go the attention of Billy Gibbons, lead guitarist for ZZ Top, who shook Marc's hand and asked, "where the hell do you learn to play like that out here in the boonies?"

Born in Jacksonville, Florida on October 22, 1970 in a Navy base hospital, Marc Brown moved to the small village of Huslia, Alaska at the age of one. There he grew up around a large family of blues guitarist, fiddle players, country singers, harmonica players, bassists, etc…

Being raised around his uncles and grandfather, Marc received his first guitar at the age of 5, and by the time he was 11, he was practicing 5 to 8 hours a day. His grandfather took a personal interest in Marc's musical training and had him playing rhythm in his gospel band before the young Indian was even 13. By the time he was 15, Marc was touring the interior of Alaska with his grandfather and by the time he was 17. Marc left for Boston, for an intense music program at Berklee College of Music. There in Boston, the Athabascan extended his practicing and studying of the guitar to 11 hours a day. These long hours of jams with several bands a day developed Marc Brown's current style of playing 2 to 3 hour sets. The environment of Berklee's elite staff and amazingly talented students brought Marc's level of song writing and guitar playing to a plateau that he could not believe.

After graduating from high school in '89 Marc moved to Fairbanks to play in some local clubs like Blues Breakers Night Club and Lounge, The Marlin, Blue Loon, Cabaret, Steese Lounge, RJ's and a few others before settling at the Arctic Bar and became their house band. Here in Fairbanks, in '93 his first cassette was released. Marc Brown "Athabascan Indian" sold 1200 copies in less than half a year, which propelled the release of "Marc Brown and the Blues Crew" in '94. Then came Marc Brown and the Blues Crew "Blues in the Blood" in '95 and "live at the Arctic Bar" in '96. Totaling over 6000 cassette and cd sales, Marc and the boys took their time in the recording of "Standing At The Crossroads," which was released in '98.

The Blues Crew now has six releases under their belt and is working on a 7th. "Lonely Hearts" was released in 2002 and so far are sold out at a thousand cd's. "Lond Time Coming" should be released shortly and has 12 originals and 3 cover tunes. The cd features Marc Brown on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Patrick Costello on drums, Jason Stals on tenor saxophone, Steve Moore on Bass, Derrick Jackson on bass and vocals, Randy Barker on drums, Brett Forsythe on alto sax and Noel Camp on bass.

Some of the songs already recorded for the new release are "Beast of Burden," "Seems Like Forever," "Hey Joe," "Good Bye Jordan," "Nothing But The Blues," "Long Time Coming," "In My Heart," "Baby Come On," "A Night To Remember," " Lady Love Is Gone," "Somebody Came To My Rescue," " Keep On Smiling," " Tell Me Baby," and "Lonely Nights."