Music
Selwyn Birchwood, Living in a Burning House (Alligator Records)
Selwyn Birchwood makes his third Alligator Records album a muscular musical statement. A singer-songwriter who plays slicing electric and lap steel guitar, the dynamic young bluesman from Orlando, Florida, also […]
Best of the Beat: Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award (Musician) – Dr. Jean Montès
“Music is life,” says Dr. Jean Montès, director of orchestral studies and coordinator of strings at Loyola University. “I am happy to share it.” The recipient of OffBeat’s Best of […]
Jazz and Rebellion: 1811 Kid Ory Historic House
The 1811 Kid Ory Historic House in LaPlace played a principal role in two significant events in American history. On January 8, 1811, the first blood in one of the […]
Best of the Beat: Lifetime Achievement in Music Education – Sanford Hinderlie
Sanford Hinderlie, the Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music Education recipient, is in his 40th year of teaching at Loyola University. A professor of popular and commercial music […]
Ghalia Volt, One Woman Band (Ruf Records)
A Belgian firecracker recently based in New Orleans, Ghalia Volt idiosyncratically embraces the American South’s indigenous blues. Her intentionally raw third album, One Woman Band, is boldly minimalist and musically […]
The Soul of New Orleans: Hurricane Katrina-inspired ‘Our New Orleans’ reissued on vinyl
Recorded in the chaotic weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the all-star Our New Orleans album raised $1.5 million for Gulf Coast hurricane survivors. New vinyl and digital editions of the album […]
A Burning Light: Tavasco 504 will not let the “plan-demic” stop them
In these coronavirus times, Tavasco 504 is another example of making lemonade from lemons. A soul, funk and rhythm and blues group that formed in the 1970s as the Soul […]
Living the Blues: Alabama Slim and cousin Little Freddie King cozy up in The Parlor
Along with his upcoming 82nd birthday, New Orleans blues artist Milton Frazier has something else to celebrate. Frazier—the singer, guitarist and songwriter known as Alabama Slim—is releasing his third album, […]
Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes Talks Back
The world knows Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes as the singing, accordion-playing front man for Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots. On Mardi Gras morning, though, he fills another significant cultural role. Since […]
A Band Name Hyckoriii, Rural Life: The Soundtrack (Independent)
An unconventional trio from Baton Rouge, A Band Name Hyckoriii—pronounced hickory—reveals talent and imagination in the 14-track album Rural Life: The Soundtrack. But the group’s musical vocabulary and technical skills […]
