Music
Frenchie Moe: Soul Full Tonight (Independent)
You know you’ve really become a New Orleanian when you write a song called “Gator Bags a Beaver,” especially when that’s a love song. This is the second local release by European blues woman Frenchie Moe, who moved here after working with some of the R&B old guard from the U.K. And it shows she’s really internalized her hometown, with a distinctly funky approach to the blues.
Condition Red: The Red Rockers reunion at Tipitina’s
There’s a bootleg of U2’s show in Chicago 1985, during the U.S. leg of the Unforgettable Fire tour. “I wanna tell you about some special people,” Bono says before the encore. That’s the night’s opening band, New Orleans’ Red Rockers, who he calls out to join them onstage. “These fellas have just reminded us of the good things about being in a group.”
Honey Island Swamp Band: Custom Deluxe (Color Red)
The live and studio versions of Honey Island Swamp Band have always been very different: Onstage it’s all about stretching out, and I’ve seen them play a full Jazz Fest set with only four songs. Studio albums are for keeping the songs concise and varying the groove from track to track. Their sixth full-length is no exception but may be the strongest one yet, coming after a six-year recording break that brought changes in both label and personnel.
Troy Sawyer: Rock Your Soul (Independent)
The cover photo of trumpeter Troy Sawyer’s debut album—the artist at his doorstep, barefoot, grinning broadly and holding a sno-ball—perfectly sums up the feel of the album. It’s a disc that exudes equal parts local color and good spirits.
Absolutely Magic: Season of the Witch features Kimberly Kaye, Debbie Davis and more
New Orleans may be the only city where you can buy voodoo dolls and witchcraft supplies at Walgreens. It’s also a city where women musicians often find themselves feeling marginalized. You might say there’s a bit of a discrepancy there.
Joe Krown: Tribute (Sledgehammer Blues)
Joe Krown Tribute
Billy Iuso: 52 Hz (Independent)
Billy Iuso was one of the first local musicians to really get busy during the pandemic; he started doing livestreams in spring 2020 and returned to live gigs as soon as there were any. He used a lot of the downtime to stockpile songs—and while his new album isn’t specifically about lockdown, it does stir up a lot of the emotions that surfaced during that time.
Dr Mary’s Monkey: Velvet Dreams (Audio Platters)
On the surface, there’s some serious psychedelic damage in this band. Most of their tracks could pass for buried treasures on some little-known Pebbles or Nuggets compilation, and lovers of late-’60s garage/psych will latch onto it right away. Especially since the reverb-drenched recording makes it all sound like it’s emanating from some long-ago bat
cave.
Vick LeCar: Vick LeCar’s Gallus Rex (Righteous Path)
Not many people seem to write love songs for their guitars anymore. Vick Lecar’s “My Guitar and I” is probably the first song of this nature I’ve really enjoyed since Dash Rip Rock’s “String You Up” a couple of decades ago. Like that one, it’s full of hot licks and double entendres, with a suitably climactic solo at the end.
Marc Stone: Shining Like a Diamond (Independent)
If I were Marc Stone, I’d have a hard time telling people what kind of music I played. He’s certainly a bluesman, but one of the more eclectic ones around. And his latest shows how many ways there are to make a hip, modern blues record without relying on the obvious guitar-slinging thing.
