By Breven Honda
On Oct. 10, The Mesquite Cafe Blues Band recently performed at the Mesquite Library’s “Glitter and Gold” Outdoor Fall Festival.
Paul and Linda Villanueva have been the leaders of the band since its existence began during the COVID-19 pandemic, around two years ago.
Paul Villanueva said he cannot wait to perform alongside his wife in their continued relationship with the library.
“We are super excited,” Paul Villanueva said. “We’ve worked with the library the last couple of years, doing outdoor concerts. It’s good to do things with them and for them to help the funding and to help the county or resources into our library, which helps the community.”
In the band, Paul is the guitarist while Linda plays the percussion instruments and also dances.
Paul Villanueva said people will be hearing a mix of blues and classic rock songs that either they made or are covers that fans have heard before.
“Musically, they can expect some really good music,” he said. “We play bass and whole a lot of Blues songs. If it’s a dance party or something, we can also do classic rock, so we kind of intermix the two. So, they can expect real good music, live guitar, live vocals, a good performance but on a professional level.
“Everything we do is very serious as far as our presentation. We want to make a good impression. We want the client – in this case, it would be the library – to have a totally successful event that includes making sure the audience has a good time.”
With the event having the Blues band being the only musical aspect to this festival over the three-hour period, Linda said she is grateful for receiving the opportunity to showcase their voices and their instruments.
“We’re very honored that we’ve been asked to play there,” she said. “We enjoy entertaining. We enjoy bringing music to people, we enjoy making them happy. It’s a lot of fun for us as well as the audience.”
In addition to the music, the festival, which was open to anybody of all ages, had arts and crafts, food trucks, pumpkin decorating, carnival games, face painting, community vendors, raffle prizes and more.
The Mesquite Blues Band has been gaining a fan base, especially from those in Mesquite.
Linda, who also tap dances and is part of the show girls, said the growth from the fans is beneficial because of the relationships they have been able to make.
“We appreciate their time to come out and we appreciate their support,” Linda said. “That’s really the main thing. We’re personable and we love the people that come, and we enjoy sharing our music.”
The fan base has even gotten to the point where they are singing as they are being performed.
“Paul wrote a song for me called ‘Purple Pants,’” Linda said. “Whenever we did that song, people would sing along with it. I thought that was great.”
Besides all the other fun activities for the children, Paul said being able to play for the younger generation can attract new fans and listeners to the band and music genre.
“When you can bring the kids in a different audience that may not be familiar with some of live music, they get exposed to that,” Paul Villanueva said. “So, I’m really looking forward to that.”
