July 2013
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Charlie Wilson Can't Be Stopped (Interview)
Charlie Wilson just can’t be stopped. In the ’70s and ’80s, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native helped to define classic house-party funk…
Cover Story
- Brass-A-Holics Autonomous
The Brass-A-Holics have made a powerful impact on the New Orleans music scene in an extremely short period of time. Formed…
Features
- Top 10 Drunkest Louisiana Songs
1. Little Bob & the Lollipops, “I Got Loaded” Few songs embody the upside of imbibing better than this swamp-pop… - Hop to It: Guitarists Danny Abel and Casey Robinson Sip Local IPAs
New breweries are popping up all over Louisiana, with Gnarly Barley in Hammond and Chafunkta in Mandeville among the latest additions.… - Top 10 Essence Music Fest 2013 Must-See Shows
Like all of New Orleans’ great music festivals, Essence is what you make of it. More than a music event with… - Essence Festival 2013 (Alternative) Guide to New Orleans
People have always been drawn to the bright lights and big stages of New Orleans, whether it’s a sprawling party like… - Lil' Band O' Gold Hits the Road with Robert Plant
Even swamp pop supergroups have their Led Zeppelin fantasies. And Lil’ Band O’Gold will get to live out theirs when they… - Mia Borders Rocks Out of Quarter-Life Crisis
It shouldn’t be hard to recognize Mia Borders at this year’s Essence Festival: She’ll be the performer with the Che Guevara… - Sweet Crude: City and Cajun
On a late May, Wednesday night at the AllWays Lounge, New Orleans indie rock septet Sweet Crude is playing to a…
Fresh
- My Music: Luke Winslow-King
“I started playing guitar at about eight or nine years old, studied piano a bit, and played French horn in band.… - The Preservation Hall Jazz Band's New Deal
There’s been some big-deal news, quite literally, about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The venerable group’s signed a publishing deal with… - Buckwheat Zydeco Plans Tour Post-Cancer
Good news from Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, the longtime frontman of Buckwheat Zydeco: The singer/accordionist has been declared cancer-free and will resume… - Big Freedia: Bouncing Nationwide
If you’ve ever seen Big Freedia command a stage, proclaiming “I am the queen diva” with her booming voice and linebacker’s…
Letters
- July 2013 Letters to OffBeat
THE NAZZ ARE BLUE I haven’t kept up with Todd Rundgren at all, but I do have a slight addition. [Backtalk…
Mojo Mouth
- Mojo Mouth: Onion Soup
One of the more wonderful things about publishing OffBeat is that I get to learn something that’s interesting every day. I…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Kingfish (Restaurant Review)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Greg Sonnier toiled as a line cook at K-Paul’s, honing his… - Khris Royal Hits the Spot at Juan's Flying Burrito
What did you order today? I asked if I could make up something and the waitress said of course, so I… - Tales of the Sno-Tail
There are only two ways to cool off once the New Orleans summer comes. I’m talking really cooling off, not sitting…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Kingfish (Restaurant Review)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Greg Sonnier toiled as a line cook at K-Paul’s, honing his… - Essence Festival 2013 (Alternative) Guide to New Orleans
People have always been drawn to the bright lights and big stages of New Orleans, whether it’s a sprawling party like…
Photo Op
- Photo Op: Epaul Julien and Elizabeth Kleinveld's Ode to Manet
"Edouard Manet’s early work Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (1863) caused great upheaval. Not because the woman was naked, but because she…
The Spot
- Khris Royal Hits the Spot at Juan's Flying Burrito
What did you order today? I asked if I could make up something and the waitress said of course, so I…
Reviews
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band, That’s It! (Sony Legacy)
Ever since they covered a Kinks song (granted, a Kinks song already steeped in New Orleans jazz) on ’07s Hurricane Sessions… - Settly & the Disappointments: Part of a Moment (Independent)
My eyes went up when I saw this band’s bio namechecks Glenn Tilbrook and Peter Holsapple, to these ears two of… - Next Generation Big Band, Harold Battiste Presents: The Next Generation Big Band (AFO Records)
Any time that local musicians get projects released of some of the rarely recorded New Orleans music, it is something to… - Chris Belleau, Knee Deep in the Blues (Independent)
Before releasing his first record in a decade, Chris Belleau last popped up in the Baton Rouge-based Zydeco Hounds that, as… - Eli Yamin and Evan Christopher, Louie’s Dream: For Our Jazz Heroes (Yamin Music)
In some jazz circles, the term “trad” sometimes gets a bad rap—like a fusty pop equivalent of the “historically informed performances”… - Rex Gregory, Rocket Summer (Independent)
Rex Gregory’s latest release, Rocket Summer, exhibits maturation in his playing, his writing, and his band. This is a jazz record… - Joe Krown, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Russell Batiste, Soul Understanding (Independent)
On their third outing, the trio of Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, and Russell Batiste, Jr. continue their tradition of solid,… - Brushy One-String, Destiny (Rise Up Music)
As evidenced by Bruce Daigrepont’s recent solo accordion recording Jamais de la Vie and Spencer Bohren’s lap steel extravaganza Tempered Steel,… - Jason Stewart, Cyclicality (Independent)
Bassist Jason Stewart, a native New Orleanian who studied at NOCCA, Tulane University and New York’s Julliard School of Music, has… - Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Lickety Split (Blue Note)
Blue Note Records has added a new sound since it was known for Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and Lee Morgan. Now… - Various Artists, Boppin’ by the Bayou Again (Ace Records)
Those Cajuns, so the liner notes tell us, went off to war and came back with guitars and drums on their… - Cons and Prose, Cryin’ Out Loud (Single) (Independent)
The title track of this CD single is a rock and roll anthem in which lead singer Rik Slave, vents his… - James Hunter Six, Minute by Minute (Concord)
British soul stylist James Hunter is back, after an extended lull in touring and recording, with a release similar to his… - Brad Walker and Simon Lott, Redrawblak (Independent)
Like many jazz musicians in New Orleans, saxophonist Brad Walker plays a variety of musical roles. As a sideman and featured… - Cliff Hines, Wanderlust (Independent)
Call this one New Orleans-based jazztronica with a variety of global (African, Brazilian, Caribbean, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Spanish, as well… - Harry Connick Jr., Every Man Should Know (Columbia)
Harry Connick Jr. promises that his latest is a “no rules, no limits” album—that quote’s in his liner notes, and it’s… - Duke Robillard Band, Independently Blue (Stony Plain)
Thanks in part to the province of Alberta’s Foundation of the Arts, I dare say that the Duke Robillard sub-section in… - Jeff Albert Instigation Quartet, The Tree on the Mound (RogueArt)
The art and practice of listening is both difficult and underemphasized in our current world. Starting from the first cut on… - Albert King, Born Under A Bad Sign (Stax/Concord)
Since its vinyl release in 1967, blues aficionados have put Born Under a Bad Sign on a pedestal—many considering it one… - Various Artists, In His Grace (Independent)
In His Grace is the sonic companion to the popular musical comedy of the same name that just ended a second… - Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Island Man (BFR)
Sunpie Barnes is to zydeco what Taj Mahal is to blues—an eclectic type who follows his music to African and Caribbean… - Jake Leg Stompers, Up to No Good (Hoodoo Records)
There is a swagger to the Jake Leg Stompers. They play their version of old timey music and make it relevant… - Wadada Leo Smith & TUM, Occupy the World (TUM)
After decades of great records, forward-thinking compositions, and his own style of playing, trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith is finally…
