Dr. John is among the core group of New Orleans musicians who’ve brought renewed purpose to their work in the last five years. His last release, City That Care Forgot, was a masterpiece of post-Katrina commentary. Tribal is more personal, with a spectacular performance from his “Lower 911” band, particularly from drummer Herman Ernest III, [...]
Tony Joe White has made a career out of being laconic, and his matter-of-fact delivery lent a homespun truthfulness to race relations in “Willie and Laura Mae Jones,” a subtle wink to “Polk Salad Annie” and a mournful quality to “Rainy Night in Georgia.” When he dueted with Shelby Lynne on “Can’t Go Back Home,” [...]
The family band has been a cornerstone of the American entertainment industry since the 19th Century, when singing families became the first domestic music stars. There’s something magic about the way blood relatives interact with each other spiritually and instinctively rather than technically. This is even more important in the African-American music tradition, in which [...]
What did one Jean-Eric fan say to the other when the drugs wore off? No, the band’s sassy, minimal, class-A electro is not as bad as that old joke. In fact, it’s been doing great in New Orleans, where all a band needs in order to succeed is to be fun. It doesn’t hurt that [...]
With the resurgence of bounce music, the release of Mystikal and the rise of Curren$y, there’s no denying that the Crescent City has once again reclaimed its place as a hip-hop hotbed. Beneath the surface, the Big Easy is also home to one of the fastest growing underground rap scenes anywhere. One needs look no [...]
With the resurgence of bounce music, the release of Mystikal and the rise of Curren$y, there’s no denying that the Crescent City has once again reclaimed its place as a hip-hop hotbed. Beneath the surface, the Big Easy is also home to one of the fastest growing underground rap scenes anywhere. One needs look no [...]
Like the jazz tradition in New Orleans and zydeco music’s in South Louisiana, many of the current blues artists that from Baton Rouge are second, and even third generation musicians. Not only is Kenny Neal the oldest son of blues harp legend Raful Neal, but also each of his siblings has pursued careers as a [...]
The title of this one is somewhat misleading. A better one might well be A Little Bit of Blues and Let’s Rock a While. The former Baton Rouge guitarist recorded this in Nashville with the multi-tasking Jon Tiven producing. Former Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin co-wrote several of the songs here. In fact, he helps [...]
Johanna Devine did what any aspiring singer-songwriter does—she wrote a batch of songs with plans to eventually record them on voice and guitar. But when producer Dirk Powell heard them and realized the Nouveau String Band front gal’s affinity for ’30s Western swing, ’50s torch jazz and rockabilly, not to mention early ’60s country, genre-hopping [...]
Juvenile’s Beast Mode sounds like the name of a summer blockbuster. And like an action-packed mega-hit movie, the album is heavy on big explosions and light on substance. The explosions come in the form of trunk-rattling bass and highpowered synths. Juvenile, who carved his name in hip-hop lore with a gritty debut album that put [...]
