When Paula and the Pontiacs get it right, they get it very right. “Everything I Need” plays to all the band’s strengths—its ability to nail a barroom R&B groove, and Paula Rangell’s personable voice. When she sings a ballad, you believe her, and “Quiet Country Night” and her cover of Earl King’s “Your Love Means [...]
Tag Archives: Earl King
Classic Songs of Louisiana: “Big Chief” by Professor Longhair
February 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
“Me big chief, me got ’em tribe. Got my squaw right by my side, My flag boy just went by, My spy boy he full of fire. My whole tribe is having fun, We gonna dance ‘till morning come.”—Earl King Closely identified with Carnival, “Big Chief” was recorded by Professor Longhair and produced by [...]
George Porter, Jr.: My World and Welcome to It
December 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
“How many hours have you spent on stage?” The question slows George Porter, Jr. down. Sitting at his living room table, he leans forward on his hands and thinks about it. “Whoa, man. I can’t even begin to think that,” but he tries to puzzle it out. “Hmmm. Mm hmmm. That’s a lot of hours.” [...]
We All Love Earl King: A Personal Remembrance
June 1, 2003 – 12:01 am
When a musician of Earl King’s stature dies, the funeral service is often a homecoming of New Orleans musical artists, a chance for people who haven’t seen each other in years to reunite, an opportunity for folks whose working hours are after dark to meditate on mortality in the broad daylight. At Gallier Hall, on [...]
Dr. John, Desitively Bonnaroo (Label M)
July 1, 2001 – 12:01 am
If I was stranded on that infamous desert island with a portable CD player and plenty of batteries, and I could only have one New Orleans CD, this would be my choice (if I were permitted two choices, I’d also plead for Professor Longhair’s New Orleans Piano CD), Desitively Bonnaroo is the best Dr. John [...]
Earl King’s World
May 1, 1993 – 12:01 am
40-odd years worth of recording sessions, live dates and good times are stored in Earl King’s magnificently-coiffed head, and he possesses the uncanny ability to recall names and anecdotes from most of them. “When you talk about things,” he explains, “there are so many things that are related to something…when I try to think back [...]
Hammond and Nauman Scott: The Blues Brothers
January 1, 1992 – 12:01 am
It’s the early morning hours in a smoky hole-in-the-wall dive. Inside, a raw, barebones blues band digs into a deep, gutsy groove and pours the soul over clanking beer bottles and yelling patrons. A harp man with a furrowed brow wails and moans, bending metal in his harp while a guitarist, a study in concentration, [...]
The Dew Drop Inn
May 1, 1991 – 12:01 am
On May 1st the Jazz and Heritage Festival will present a concert titled “Dew Drop Inn Revisited: The Toussaint Legacy” at Riverboat Hallelujah Concert Hall at 8 p.m. Though not all of the New Orleans R&B artists included performed regularly at the famed Dew Drop Inn nightclub, they represent an awesome chunk of New Orleans [...]
Various Artists, Blues-A-Rama (Black Top Records)
November 1, 1990 – 12:01 am
Record labels, particularly the indies, have invariably had their “sound.” Think of some of the great ones—Chess, Motown, Blue Note—and it’s simple to “hear” what each stood for in the musical arena. It wasn’t just a style of music—blues, soul, jazz—but the production values and overall goals. As important as the artists themselves, often those [...]
