May 2007
BackTalk
- Billy Gibbons
“Get high everybody get high,” Billy Gibbons sang some 32 years ago when ZZ Top played New Orleans’ fabled music venue,…
Cover Story
- Mac's Wild Years
Mac Rebennack was born in 1941. Dr. John was born in 1967. What happened in between would color his whole musical…
Features
- Fest Focus: Jon Cleary
“They kept adding on and adding on.” Jon Cleary has been on the road playing with Bonnie Raitt, and due to… - Bobby Charles: I Write the Songs
There’s a reason you will likely hear “Walking to New Orleans” more than once during this year’s Jazz Fest. Fats Domino’s… - Classic Songs of Louisiana: "Suzie Q"
“I like the way you walk I like the way you talk, Suzie Q” —Hawkins, Lewis, Broadwater “North Louisiana had… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: Kenny Brown
Widely known for his years as the co-guitarist, right-hand-man, and virtual adopted son of the late Hill Country blues great R.L.… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: Barbara Lynn
When I first saw Barbara Lynn play live at the Circle Bar about five years ago, I was gobsmacked. She could… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: Roky Erickson
The Vatican has its complex, and sometimes lucrative, process for the determination of sainthood. I have mine, with less of either… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: Dan Penn
They were working on cars. Dave Gonzales of Tucson country soul band the Hacienda Brothers was visiting songwriter Dan Penn at… - Fest Focus: Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove
Kirk Joseph’s career has taken him far and wide starting from the funeral parades on the streets to the funky rock… - Fest Focus: Don Rich
Despite being one of Louisiana’s most consistently popular and successful styles of indigenous styles of music, swamp pop has often been… - Fest Focus: Judith Owen
The songs are only part of the story. Judith Owen’s last two albums, Lost and Found and Here recall Joni Mitchell’s… - Fest Focus: Calexico
“Crystal Frontier” sums up Calexico as well as anything does. A Hammond B3 organ note slowly swells while muted guitar strums… - Fest Focus: Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White has never lost perspective. The writer of “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia” doesn’t hurry and… - Fest Focus: World Saxophone Group
By the mid-1970s, Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake, David Murray and Julius Hemphill were well known on the avant-garde jazz scene. During… - Fest Focus: Brian Jack
Newcomers who associate zydeco music only with Louisiana may scratch their heads at the title of Roger Wood’s new book, Texas… - Fest Focus: Henry Butler, New Orleans Social Club
When Harry Shearer was asked what he misses most about post-Katrina New Orleans, he answered in two words: Henry Butler. Butler… - Fest Focus: Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball has played every Jazz Fest since 1978 except for one year when her performance was rained out. She remembers… - Fest Focus: Danza featuring Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott
Don’t be fooled by pianist Tom McDermott’s mild and unassuming demeanor. Just below the surface lies a sort of trad jazz… - Fest Focus: Big Al Carson
Alton “Big Al” Carson is one of the finest vocalists you’ll hear at Jazz Fest, but if you want to hear… - 2007 Jazz Fest from A-Z
Years ago, a radio announcer asked, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” then answered, “The Shadow knows.”… - The Pages of History
Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band Friday, May 4, 12:30 p.m., Economy Hall Tent “One day I was sitting… - Every Accordion a King
“C’mon let me ride that donkey!” Leon Chavis shouted as he squeezed his single row accordion in time to shouts of… - Bobby Charles: Better Days
The plan is to meet Bobby Charles in his hometown of Abbeville, Louisiana at a local restaurant. He usually sits… - Music to My Eyes
Fresh
- The Gang's All Here
L’il Queenie and the Percolators were one of New Orleans’ premier acts in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Now, after… - A Sacred Place
Last year, Sacred Steel band the Campbell Brothers played a show at the Old Point Bar that was one of the… - Lost in the Flood
After 16 years with Cowboy Mouth, self-described “troubadour” Paul Sanchez has released his seventh solo album, Washed Away, a compilation of… - The Band in the Hall
Before Hurricane Katrina, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band had recorded a new album. They had it set, ready to go, then… - The Muddy Road
When swamp pop singer Joe Barry finally lost his battle to numerous health problems and passed away in August 2004 he’d… - The Future's Future
Early last November, the Future of Music Coalition organized a benefit concert at Tipitina’s with the aim of raising funds for… - A Brand New Baby Boy
As much as rappers try to create larger than life personas that make them believe that they could walk on water,… - You Don't Have to Live Like a NOLAfugee
In post-Katrina New Orleans, the challenge to discern fact from fiction has plagued the community, leaving many in question of the… - Back to Basics
This month Basin Street Records released Kermit Ruffins’ Live at Vaughan’s, its first full-length CD in two years, and its first… - Pass It On
Seven year old Dinerral Shavers walks onto the stage of the Sound Café with a snare drum strapped to his chest.…
Letters
- May 2007 Letters
CANNOT BE MATCHED Great article the March ’07 OffBeat, “Getting Caught Up In It.” I am 45 years old and have…
Mojo Mouth
- Good News, Bad News
To start on a joyful note, this year was better than last. Crawling out from the economic hole Katrina created in…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Keith "Deacon Johnson" Moore
Keith Moore a.k.a. Deacon Johnson (so named for his being the son of renowned New Orleans musician Deacon John Moore), the…
OffBeat Eats
- Eight is Enough
Many folks enter the Fair Grounds hungering for the holy trinity of Jazz Fest eats: crawfish bread, crawfish Monica and the… - Behind the Green Flap
It’s hot and you’re hungry. A five-minute wait for a cochon de lait po-boy or a bowl of crawfish Monica can… - Dining Out: Mat and Naddie's
Mat and Naddie’s nestles along the levee, just below the waters of the Mississippi. Only blocks from the bustle of Carrollton…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Mat and Naddie's
Mat and Naddie’s nestles along the levee, just below the waters of the Mississippi. Only blocks from the bustle of Carrollton…
Reviews
- Kings of Leon, Because of the Times (RCA)
Funny, in England Kings of Leon are considered a southern rock band. At Voodoo, they sounded so British. Not in… - Slade, In for a Penny: Raves and Faves (Shout! Factory)
Slade made little impact on America, perhaps because they were too British, or maybe because they were too much a… - Uncle Monk, Uncle Monk (Airday)
Uncle Monk is Tommy Ramone/Erdelyi’s bluegrass duo with Claudia Tienan. Obviously, a Ramone playing bluegrass sparks curiosity, but the album… - Dale Watson, From the Cradle to the Grave (Hyena)
At last fall’s Americana Music Association conference in Nashville, everybody wanted to be Dale Watson. Many of the bands performing… - The Soul of John Black, The Good Girl Blues (Cadabra)
The first album from the Soul of John Black (essentially, John Bigham, ex- of Fishbone) was a cool second generation… - Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Security (Anti-)
Time and playing together have made Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra a pretty potent band. Security drops into solid, varied grooves at… - John Prine & Mac Wiseman, Standard Songs for Average People (Oh Boy)
John Prine has mastered the art of being John Prine. When he performs covers as he does here, they sound… - JJ Grey & Mofro, Country Ghetto (Alligator Records)
Recent Alligator Records’ release State of Grace by the Holmes Brothers shares an emphasis on groove and voice with Country… - James Blood Ulmer, Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions (Hyena)
Late this winter, James Blood Ulmer settled into the Bywater’s Piety Street Recording to record a suite of songs inspired… - Watermelon Slim and the Workers, The Wheel Man (Northern Blues)
Oklahoma guitarist, singer and songwriter Watermelon Slim is breaking new lyrical ground in modern blues music, and that’s a good thing.… - Various Artists, Black Snake Moan Soundtrack (New West)
Music director Scott Bomar has assembled a pretty solid collection of Mississippi hill country blues. If you don’t connect to… - Don Montoucet et ses amis, Legendary Cajun Accordionist (Swallow Records)
“If I hadn’t met Don Montoucet,” contends Kevin Naquin, one of today’s leading lights in the Acadiana crawfish circuit, “I would… - Canned Heat, Canned Heat Live at Montreux (DVD) (Eagle Vision)
There is something of the colonial administrator’s self congratulation at his understanding of native culture in these oddly configured reissues of… - Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Gate's On the Heat (Maison de Blues)
There is something of the colonial administrator’s self congratulation at his understanding of native culture in these oddly configured reissues of… - Clifton Chenier, Frenchin' the Boogie (Maison de Blues)
There is something of the colonial administrator’s self congratulation at his understanding of native culture in these oddly configured reissues of… - Memphis Slim & Buddy Guy, Southside Reunion (Maison de Blues)
There is something of the colonial administrator’s self congratulation at his understanding of native culture in these oddly configured reissues of… - New Orleans Rhythm Conspiracy, Dancing Ground (Independent)
As hard as it is to believe, sometimes the groove is not enough. There are bands all over town that… - Bodesattva, Arrival (1718)
As long as there are university music programs, there will be jazz funk groups, though I have no idea if… - Andy Pizzo Project, Bouncin' (O-Zip)
As long as there are university music programs, there will be jazz funk groups, though I have no idea if… - Telefon Tel Aviv, Remixes Compiled (Hefty)
Many dance floor-oriented electronic pieces of music have made it easy to stereotype electronica as emotionless, but Telefon Tel Aviv… - Koko Taylor, Old School (Alligator)
There’s never been anything subtle about Koko Taylor’s music and her latest is no exception. Taylor again returns to the type… - Don't Look Back: 65 Tour Deluxe Edition (Docurama DVD)
By now, the last thing the world needs is more writing about Bob Dylan, but sometimes you just can’t help… - The Other Planets, Eightballs in Angola (Independent)
Mixing forward-looking sounds and studio wizardry, the new CD from the New Orleans collective the Other Planets, led by percussionist and… - Matt Perrine, Sunflower City (Independent)
Until sousaphonist and bassist Matt Perrine’s new record, nobody, and I mean nobody, needed to record the old warhorse “Muskrat Ramble”… - Ingrid Lucia & the Flying Neutrinos, Don't Stop (Independent)
The liner notes for Don’t Stop boast that the album was recorded live in four hours, and whether it’s a… - Vin Bruce, Garden of Love (Spoon)
There was a time when country legend Vin Bruce contemplated quitting the music biz. Now the septuagenarian doesn’t know the meaning… - Johnnie Taylor, Live at the Summit Club (Stax)
While the late Johnnie Taylor is unjustly left out when the great soul singers are discussed, consider that Taylor sold more… - Matt Lemmler, Music of New Orleans (Independent)
Except for 2001’s much-acclaimed Portraits of Wonder, New Orleans pianist Matt Lemmler was known mostly in pre-storm days as one of… - Joe Krown Trio, Old Friends (Joe Krown)
There are more than several moments on his new release where pianist Joe Krown’s trio takes a song both uptown and… - Papa Grows Funk, Mr. Patterson's Hat (Funky Krewe)
Mr. Patterson’s Hat is the sound of a band packing its lunch pail and going to work. It’s not showy,… - U-Ka, Live at Snug Harbor (Independent)
Is warm enough? Just how far will a soulful earnestness get you? U-Ka’s Live at Snug Harbor boasts an excellent… - Tom McDermott, Live in Paris (STR Digital)
The long standing ties between New Orleans and France were strengthened in the aftermath of the 2005 levee failure that destroyed… - The Holmes Brothers, State of Grace (Alligator)
Willie Nelson referred to the Holmes Brother’s previous release, Simple Truths, as “simply one of the best albums released this year”… - James Booker, Manchester '77 (Document)
In recent years, more of James Booker’s recordings have made it to CD, and this is a great thing. The latest… - Dumpstaphunk, Listen Hear (Independent)
Late last summer, the members of Dumpstaphunk got breaks from their various touring duties. They took advantage of the moment… - Jon Cleary, Do Not Disturb (Independent)
The title of this four-song EP comes from the disc’s origins. It was recorded in hotel rooms and during soundchecks… - Lucinda Williams, West (Lost Highway)
Lucinda Williams has always worn her heart on her sleeve, but on West it’s a mourning band. Written after the death… - Wynton Marsalis, From the Plantation to the Penitentiary (Blue Note)
From the Plantation to the Penitentiary recalls the Black Arts era in African-American culture—particularly poetry and jazz, when it seemed… - Kermit Ruffins, Live at Vaughan's (Basin Street Records)
Live albums either work spectacularly or they don’t work very well at all. There was a feral, musical restlessness in… - Amanda Walker, Amanda Walker (Rabadash)
This debut album of original songs by songwriter/performer Amanda Walker has a quality of innocence, of diary writing put to music.…
