BJ Estares

A native of San Diego, BJ “Beej” Estares grew up in Southern California heavily influenced by jazz and big band music thanks to his dad’s eclectic taste. After moving to music saturated Las Angeles at the age of twelve, his parents gleefully helped him trade his drum set for an acoustic guitar. He then proceeded to wear out the grooves of every Wes Montgomery LP he could get his hands on. At fourteen, his brother turned him on to Janis Joplin’s “Turtle Blues.”

From that day the poor boy has been lost in the blues forever.

Turning to the British Blues scene through the Stones and Ry Cooder, Beej discovered bluesmen like John Mayall, Eric Clapton, John Martyn and their contemporaries. This led him to the American artists that influenced the Brits, Robert Johnson, Muddy, John Lee, and the “Three Kings”: Albert, Freddie and BB, to name a distinguished few.
At sixteen, luck, or perhaps, fate put Beej front row-center in front of the legendary bottle neck artist Fury Louis. After being helped out on to the stage, the then 78 year old Louis exposed his secrets to all those in the Pasadena City Aud who were astute enough to take notes.

After a 10 year break from music, Beej sold his first song in 2005 to friend and mentor Big Jim Adam. “No Man At All” was first recorded by Jim on “Live at Jimbo’s”. Through the last eleven years, Beej and his band, “Route 61”, have experienced steady growth in popularity through versatility and creativity in the Pikes Peak Region.
Early honors include openers for The Ronnie Baker Brooks Band (solo) at the Crystola Inn and Tommy Castro at Stargazers Theatre with the Route 61 Acoustic Trio. In 2013, BJ and the Route 61 acoustic trio opened for two time IBC winner Lionel Young at Stargazers. BJ and the full Route 61 ensemble performed all original tunes from the first CD release “Full Time Student Of The Blues” at the Pikes Peak Center’s Studio B Showcase in 2012 and were invited back in 2013 to perform cuts from his latest endeavor, the “all original” release “Easy Street”. A steady schedule of performances at small venues has also helped foster a wider fan base in the area.

2010 saw the release of “Full Time Student Of The Blues” on BJ’s label, Disk Dog Noise. With long time friend and blues recording artist Jim Adam as mastering engineer, this CD features a dynamic performance by pianist John Stilwagen on the title track (authored by BJ). Distributed fully by CD Baby, this collection has garnered critical acclaim locally through air play on KRCC’s “Blue Plate Special”.

2013’s project, “Easy Street” took early accolades from the Pikes Peak Blues Community as the “Best Self Produced CD” in the region for 2014. “Easy Street” shot out of the gate with immediate airplay on the “Blue Plate Special” and is also distributed by “CD Baby”. “Easy Street” shines with guest performances by jazz guitarist Rick Greene, pianist Bryant Jones and George Whitesell on sax. With “all original” songs, five of them acoustic solos, “Easy Street “ demonstrates the versatility of BJ Estares.