Chris Lujan is the founder of Pittsburg, California-based Lugnut Brand Records and a talented multi-instrumentalist, who's currently the bandleader of a number of active and now-defunct bands. Lugnut Brand's label roster—most, featuring Lujan's own talents—includes: Thelugknuckles, Majestic Soul, The Incredible Say Whats!, Capriccio, Magnant & Associates, The M-Tet Plus Two, The 238s, Thee Baby Cuffs, DJ Platurn, The Viscous Seeds, Pawn Shop Soul, Princes of Nigeria, Chris Hazelton's Boogaloo 7, Chris Lujan & Electric Butter, Noble Hustle, and, of course, The M-Tet. Last we heard from Chris Lujan, he was expertly covering Childish Gambino, The Isley Brothers, and Shades of Joy with The M-Tet on to separate limited edition 45's for Detroit's Funk Night Records. Now, following two super-limited edition vinyl-only 7-inch singles for Lugnut/Fnr, Chris Lujan & Co. have returned with two brand spankin' new digital singles: Chris Lujan & Electric Butter's "Don't Go Actin' A Fool" and The M-Tet Feat. Joe Baer Magnant's "A Change Is Gonna Come."


"Don't Go Actin' A Fool" is the premiere offering from Lujan's newly-minted solo Instrumental Soul project, which features the musical talents of The M-Tet's own Joe Baer Magnant, as well as Hammond Organ/Fender Rhodes specialist Raynier Jacildo and drummer Micah McClain. "A Change Is Gonna Come," on the other hand, is a cover of Sam Cooke's timeless 1964 RCA Victor single, which is sadly, still just as poignant today; it features what may be one of the last appearances from The M-Tet's "fantastic guitar player," as Joe Baer Magnant is moving from The West to East Coast. However, he will still remain an active member of The M-Tet, gigs will, likely, just be a little more seldom, as Baer Magnant will either have to be back on The West Coast or the rest of The M-Tet would have to travel to The East. In addition to Chris Lujan & Electric Butter, it looks like Lujan has spear-headed the formation of yet another Deep Soul/Funk-leaning ensemble: Gene Washington & The Sweet Sounds. It appears as though Mr. Washington's long-time backing band, The Ironsides, have decided to pass over the torch onto The Sweet Sounds.


Gene Washington's newly-minted backing band now features Chris Lujan, as well as The M-Tet's Joe Baer Magnant, Gary Pitman & Michael Reed, plus, a 2-man horn section consisting of trumpet player Chris Brown and tenor saxophonist Erik Mekkelson. There's currently a 14-song/ever-evolving playlist on Spotify fitting dubbed THIS IS CHRIS LUJAN, which features both "A Change Is Gonna Come" & "Don't Go Actin' A Fool," along with choice cuts from The Incredible Say Whats!, The 238s, Thelugknuckles, Joe Baer Magnant Group, Thee Baby Cuffs, and Majestic Soul. All of the aforementioned Chris Lujan/The M-Tet-affiliated singles are currently available digitally on Lugnut Brand Records' Bandcamp page with physical 7-inch copies of "Gotta Be With You" B​/W "Shades of Joy" still available, as well. You can Follow Gene Washington & The Sweet Sounds on their newly-minted Facebook (@gwsweetsounds) and Instagram (gwsweetsounds) pages for continual status updates.