Culture and Entertainment Notebook: Duo turned ensemble: Bittersweet offers 'a little bit of everything'

Cape Girardeau-based Bittersweet Band began in October 2010 as a female acoustic duo before transforming into today's six-member Bittersweet Fusion.

The ensemble performs a variety of genres ranging from 1960s classics and blues to Southern rock and country R&B.

Sally LeGrand Davey, lead vocals, and Bridget Huff, rhythm guitar and vocals, have been with the band since the beginning.

"I hadn't met her before then, and we just clicked musically," Davey said.

And Davey said self-taught Huff is one in a million.

"In this area, I don't know just another female guitar player," she said. "We were very unique. People liked it, and they liked our harmony. It was beautiful."

After hunting for musicians, she said, Bittersweet began to acquire additional members to create Bittersweet Fusion, which includes Mark Werner, lead guitar; Larry Chasteen, bass and vocals; Derrick Irwin, keyboard and vocals; and Rick Braggs, drums and vocals.

"Bittersweet Fusion is basically the full band," Davey said. "We play the bigger venues. Bittersweet (Band) plays more of the wineries."

Bittersweet Band performs songs that are a little more mellow, according to Huff.

Davey said the band is made up of a great group of people -- all with full-time jobs -- who like each other and have a mutual respect and love for music.

Bittersweet has performed in several states, but chooses to stay primarily local with performances. Davey said she believes the members' personal connections within the community have aided the band's success.

Although the band has not produced any albums, Huff has recorded an EP, she said -- accompanied by an album release party -- back in 2012.

Bittersweet takes songs and applies an original "mixwup" to them, Huff said, and some are a "mashup," involving several different songs.

"We play a big variety," Huff said. "We do country, blues, R&B. We do rock, we do Southern rock."

And according to Davey, Huff and Braggs, each band member brings his or her own style, depending on how and where they grew up.

"And a lot of times, we just say, 'Hey, bring some songs to practice, and we'll see what we wanna do," Davey said.

Braggs described himself as an "'80s rock kind of person" and grew up in Peoria, Illinois. He was raised around "the rockers" and remembers listening to groups acts such as Ted Nugent, Styx and Head East.

He is not a fan of the "old country," Braggs said, but likes the newer style of country because it maintains "that '80s beat."

At the age of 15, Braggs connected with "a very good" Chicago-based band, Smokehouse. He and the band toured in that area, Braggs said, and played alongside artists such as REO Speedwagon, Styx and Tom Petty.

Since joining Bittersweet, Davey said of Braggs' experience, "everybody wants him, but he's ours."

Davey said the group is now working on songs made famous by Blondie, The Eagles, Pure Prairie League, Roy Orbison and Joan Jett.

And according to Davey, fans have told her they attend the band's performances for the "little bit of everything."

"You don't hear just country, you don't hear just rock, you don't hear just the blues," Braggs said.

Davey added, "I think that's why we all like it."

"But playing it all makes it fun," Braggs said. It's a challenge, he said, but Braggs wants the challenge to produce covers of songs that sound like the original.

Bittersweet Fusion will be performing at this year's Oktoberfest celebration Saturday in Uptown Jackson, "with a lot of cool stuff" provided by Braggs' entertainment production business, Huff said.

"We're pretty well self-contained," Braggs said. "We can do El Torero's all the way to the Show Me Center."

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

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-- Compiled by Joshua Hartwig from vox.com