Fran Rifugiato (left) and Marcy Eustice's blues band, Strange Brew, doesn't come across as single-dimensional, according to the president of Adelphi Records. Strange Brew's new album, 'Lost and Broken Hearted' is on the Adelphi label. (Warren L. Leeder/ Tribune-Review photo)

Marcy Eustice's musical experience is in bluegrass, country and gospel music. Fran Rifugiato played in punk and rockabilly bands in New York City.

But when the two musicians met three years ago and decided to form a band, they opted to go in a new direction: the blues.

"We just kind of met in the middle," Rifugiato said.

The result of their collaboration is Pittsburgh-based Strange Brew, a heart-and-soul, hard-hitting blues band that's getting airplay on WYEP-FM and WDVE-FM locally, and radio stations in Alaska, California, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and New Jersey. In June, Dan Ackroyd's House of Blues Radio Show (heard locally on WJPA-FM) will feature cuts from their new album, "Lost and Broken Hearted."

Not bad for a former punk rock guitarist and a singer who concedes she had little confidence in her vocal abilities.

"I really wasn't in any bands before this," said Eustice, who grew up near Clarion. "I just sang backup in my brother's band, and every once in while sang gospel music with a religious group. ... I didn't have much self-esteem, so I thought the only kind of music I could sing was country. I like country, but it's not the kind of music I wanted to do."

Rifugiato, on the other hand, is a seasoned performer who moved to New York City in the late 1970s with friends from his hometown of Penn Hills. There, he played with various bands in the Big Apple's punk and rockabilly scenes, notably the Fingers.

"We released a couple 45s, but we never really got out of New York City," he said.

Rifugiato eventually moved back to Pittsburgh, and was writing some children's songs on emergency prevention for Children's Hospital when an engineer suggested he hook up with Eustice. Intrigued by her voice, they decided to record together.

"At that point, I thought I was a soprano," Eustice said, laughing. "Fran was asking me to do all these harmonies. Now, the longer I sing, the lower my voice gets."

It's that exceptional voice - which hints of Melissa Etheridge, Janis Joplin and Marcia Ball - that Rifugiato thinks sets Strange Brew apart.

"It's different for the blues," he said. "Most blues singers, especially females, do a lot of screaming. But her voice is real melodic without being wimpy."

Combine Eustice's talents with Rifugiato's ability to crank out blues chords, then switch to more intricate fretwork on songs such as "Lies" and "Bye Bye Baby," and it's easy to why they attracted the attention from the Adelphi Records in Silver Spring, Md.

"They have interesting lyrics and an interesting presentation," said Gene Rosenthal, president of Adelphi. "I find it appealing that they're a hard hitting group, but they don't come across as single-dimensional band. They can cover a lot of bases without sounding too eclectic.

Rosenthal fully expects Strange Brew to garner attention nationally during the next year, and Eustice and Rifugiato have shows lined up in Chicago, Cleveland and Florida during next few months. But the closer they get to home, it seems, the more difficult it is to get on stage.

"It's harder for us to get a gig in Pittsburgh than it was for us to get a record deal," Rifugiato said. "We do play regularly, but it's in the suburbs - Cranberry, Beaver, Bridgewater, Crafton and Jeannette. We can't even get a return call."

Perhaps they should use the U.S. Postal Service rather than local phone lines. Strange Brew's contacts with Adelphi/Genes and Ackroyd's House of Blues network both came about when he sent unsolicited tapes out.

"We've had a lot of luck," Rifugiato said.

So maybe they'll conquer the world first, then play Pittsburgh. Coming from literally nowhere and New York City, it's a fate Eustice and Rifugiato will happily embrace.