Buzzy Beano

       The 1960’s British Invasion and The Beatles were quite influential to young Buzzy “Beano” Langford . This was the beginning of his musical journey. In fact Buzzy and his friends would strum on brooms and mops, singing to Beatle records pretending that were the Fab Four.
       At the age of ten Buzzy moved from New Orleans to Tucson, Arizona. He was so unhappy about leaving his friends his Dad thought a trip to the music store would cheer him up. William Langford purchased a guitar for his eleven year old son shortly after that visit. “It was all I could do just to have some peace around the house. Buzzy’s eyes glazed over when he saw a royal blue sparkle guitar from Germany. It was love at first sight”, recalls Buzzy’s dad.
      Buzzy began formal training, learned to read music, and studied classical guitar at an early age. At the age of thirteen Buzzy started his first band, “The Attic Rafters”, and began playing professionally at parties. In 1966, The Attic Rafters, who dressed much like the Beatles, won “The Battle of The Bands” contest in Metairie, La.
      The first time Buzzy stepped into a recording studio was as a session guitarist for an Allen Toussaint project. He was only 14 at the time. While still in his teens, Buzzy organized and played in two local, innovative groups, “Armadillo” and “The Rhythm Aces”. Both groups wrote and performed original music, and “Ride On Cowboy” was written and performed by Armadillo at this time. While in these bands, Buzzy spent time playing clubs on infamous Bourbon Street before he was of legal drinking age.
       In 1973, while playing in a Bourbon Street club, some friends of Buzzy who were members of “Vince Vance and The Valiants” paid him a visit and asked him to join “The Valiants”. As a member of The Valiants, a hugely popular 50’s show band, twenty year old Langford started touring from coast to coast playing to sold out crowds. He played clubs and college venues where crowds of 300 to 800 people were a common sight.
      In 1973, while playing in a Bourbon Street club, some friends of Buzzy who were members of “Vince Vance and The Valiants” paid him a visit and asked him to join “The Valiants”. As a member of The Valiants, a hugely popular 50’s show band, twenty year old Langford started touring from coast to coast playing to sold out crowds. He played clubs and college venues where crowds of 300 to 800 people were a common sight.
      In 1974, Buzzy decided to leave Vince Vance and The Valiants to start his own band, “Buzzy Beano and The B Notes”. This group, headed by “Beano”, was off to a good start and was a local success, but Buzzy contracted a bad case of laryngitis, which lasted three months. After only a year, the budding group fell apart.
       Shortly after the breakup, Buzzy was at a dinner party when he got a call from Vince Vance and The Valiants asking if he could play bass for a couple of months for a member who was injured in a motorcycle accident. Soon the original bass player returned, and Buzzy decided to stay on with the Valiants once again. At this time The Valiants were moving into an artistic direction. “Waitin’ Arms” was written and recorded at this time. The band continued to tour across the country and made three more recordings, which were produced by Langford. Two of the recordings were released to the public.
      In 1979, after four and a half years, Buzzy grew tired of the road. Some friends who were members of T.Q. and The Topcats asked Buzzy to join the group, and he accepted. This popular 50’s show band was looking to make some changes. It was in August when Buzzy agreed to meet the band in Memphis, Tenn. The group was making changes in it’s line up as well as format. Buzzy’s joining was not well received by T.Q. and The Topcat fans, and die hard T.Q. fans blamed Beano for the breakup of the original T.Q. and The Topcats. Buzzy even received hate mail, but luckily, Buzzy was not discouraged and has been a Topcat since that day in August, 1979. While working with the Topcats, Buzzy has helped to develop the group while evolving his own guitar and vocal styles. During the 1980’s Langford owned and operated “The Music Stop”, a local music store in Metairie, La., and has owned numerous recording studios over the years. Even though The Topcats work an average of five days a week , Buzzy has always found the time to sharpen his developing, producing, and engineering skills.
       Buzzy’s latest studio, “The Apartment”, is located in his home. It is also the home of Langford’s recording company, Four Cats / Radionic LLC. This production company has produced and released over five local talents in a short two year period. When not playing with The Topcats, or producing and engineering artists on his label, Buzzy plays guitar in various original projects around the New Orleans area.
      Check out the sound clip below of “Ride On Cowboy”, recorded live by Armadillo, which features Buzzy on guitar and vocals, Dave Watson on bass, Kenny Giroir on drums, Brad Smolkin on piano and vocals, and Mike Aguado on percussion and vocals. Buzzy has always like country music which is quite evident in this song. Also listen to “Waitin’ Arms”, recorded by Vince Vance and The Valiants, which features Buzzy on guitar and vocals, Max Nova on bass and vocals, Andy Stone on piano, Mark LeBlanc on drums, and Sidney Arroyo on percussion and vocals. This clip shows the heavy influence of The Beatles on Buzzy’s music. If this song doesn’t sound like a Beatles song, nothing does!!