Guitar Player lauded Eric McFadden as a “virtuoso multi-instrumentalist,” and PopDust reported “Kate Vargas possesses a voice that is godly in nature.” Courtesy photo

Praised by Americana UK as a “funked up psychedelicized power duo,” Sgt. Splendor, featuring Kate Vargas and Eric McFadden, will perform at Mulligans on the Blue on Saturday, joined by Brown Chicken Brown Cow’s Justin Morris on bass and Soul Kitchen’s Kevin Garland on drums.

Both musicians have been critically acclaimed. Guitar Player lauded him as a “virtuoso multi-instrumentalist,” proclaiming, “It takes a truly unique cat to blaze a career path from playing gypsy mandolin with P-Funk to strumming flamenco-inspired nylon-string with the Animals.” While PopDust noted: “Kate Vargas possesses a voice that is godly in nature, steeped in earth-crumbling nuance, and able to transport the listener wherever she so desires.”

Performing together for about 6 years, McFadden said their band name came from “loving the word splendor and that being a mission.” “And the desire to find splendor in things,” Vargas added.

Pursuing their own careers, they met at a songwriting festival in Wisconsin. “I saw Kate performing and became an immediate fan,” McFadden explained. “We did several festivals together before I asked her if she’d like to write a song together.”

“We were fans of each other first which makes it very nice,” said Vargas. “This amazing thing happens when you really love someone’s playing and you love someone because we are in a relationship, and you get to know each other as musicians in a really amazing way.”

“Sometimes I’m amazed that I’m on stage with this brilliant person,” McFadden added.

Raised in New Mexico, Vargas studied jazz flute at the Berklee College of Music. “That was my foundation, and I made a transition to more of the folk Americana world just because I love songwriting,” she said. “It was me and my acoustic guitar, and I had a band in New York. When I met Eric, here comes this rocker wanting to write songs.”

McFadden describes their music as “funk with some blues elements and it’s got psychedelic rock. Probably a good basic description is psychedelic blues rock. What we do very much sounds like a combination of all of our influences and lifestyles, and it seems to work well.”

McFadden’s remarkable resume includes playing with a host of famous musicians including George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Diddley, Keb Mo,’ Ron Wood, the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzman, Jack Johnson, and Police drummer Steward Copeland, among others.

“Eric is kind of like the Kevin Bacon of the music world,” said Vargas. “If he hasn’t played with the person, he certainly has some connection. It’s pretty amazing.”

Growing up loving the Beatles, “I went through my parent’s record collection, so there’s a lot of Beatles and Stones and Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin,” he noted. “Jeff Beck really blew my mind more than most guitar players, and Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix would be among my earliest influences.”

Playing guitar and mandolin, he became fascinated with flamenco music and masters like Paco de Lucía and gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt. “I would go to Spain a lot to tour, and I would end up meeting flamenco guitar players. They wanted to learn what I had to offer; they wanted to play blues and rock and roll, and I wanted to learn flamenco, so we would basically trade, share musical information.”

In his early days, McFadden was dubbed “Lightning” by The Clash’s Joe Strummer, who met him while touring with The Mescaleros. “We were hanging out after one of his shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and he invited me on a tour bus. We just sat and played songs till the sun came up. He just decided lightning was my nickname, and he invited me to open some shows.”

Some of his favorite memories include touring, playing mandolin with funk innovator George Clinton. “That was a great experience for me joining George Clinton and P-Funk in a lot of ways,” he said. “It also saved my life. At the time it was a difficult period, and he kind of swooped me up and put me in a bunk on the bus, and then I just went on that adventure with him and learned a lot.”

And blues rock legend Eric Burdon? “I loved working with Eric, and I loved hearing all of his stories. I love rock and roll history, so when you get to hear it right from the source, it’s really something.”

McFadden and Vargas have just released the new album “Isotopia,” with backing by bassist Norwood Fisher of Fishbone, bassist Angeline Saris (Santana, Narada Michael Walden, Todd Rundgren) and drummer Paulo Baldi (Sean Lennon, Cake).

A rocking funk collection, it includes the old timey sounding song “Dark Ages” with McFadden playing mandolin and Vargas singing about “going back to the dark ages.”

“This album felt like not just getting frustrations out regarding the current situation, it was very much fueled by that,” said Vargas.

“We’re living through some strangely dystopian times,” said McFadden. “It seems like every day there’s something unfathomable occurring, and it can be overwhelming, so having an outlet, a way to express some of that, is important.”

“If this wasn’t happening in reality, this would be a totally absurdist movie,” added Vargas. “Songs on this album are grappling with that. It’s absolutely absurd and painful.”

Sgt. Splendor performs at Mulligans on the Blue on Saturday. Doors open at 6:30, show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $20.