We're celebrating the best of 2019 with our Best of the Beat issue! Included are our lifetime achievement award winners, with Charlie Gabriel on the cover. Plus, the full list of nominees and features on Danny Barker Banjo Fest, JEN Conference, Folk Alliance & more
December 26th
When Charlie Gabriel, 87, was a youngster of maybe eight or nine years old, he had a talk with God. “I remember myself saying: I want to be a musician and I don’t want to play just one style. I want to be able to play music so wherever I am at."
December 26th
The OffBeat Music and Cultural Arts Foundation’s Best of the Beat Nominations are in. The public starts voting on December 26 at OffBeat.com and ends on January 15. Winners will be announced at the Best of the Beat, which will be held on January 30, 2020.
December 26th
When Shirani Rea opened Peaches Records in 1975, she became an independent business owner with a humanist approach to her bottom line. The beloved record store, now located on Magazine Street and Napoleon Avenue, is one of New Orleans’ best places to buy music.
December 26th
Steve Masakowski never focused on making teaching his career. While attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music he earned a Professional Diploma rather than a degree in music education. Then, Ellis Marsalis offered him a job.
December 26th
Margie Perez embodies what it means to be a working artist in New Orleans right now: she plays whenever possible, constantly expanding her reach with a variety of bands and collaborations.
December 26th
Clarence Dalcour, 71, is a soft-spoken man who as Big Chief Delco of the Creole Osceola displays old time Black Indian ways that he acquired through listening and observing the elder chiefs.
December 26th
January 2020
Lifetime Achievement in Music: Charlie Gabriel
The complete list of nominees for the 2019 Best of the Beat Awards
Lifetime Achievement in Music Business: Shirani Rea of Peaches Records
Lifetime Achievement in Music Education: Steve Masakowski
Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award (Musician): Margie Perez
Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award (Culture Bearer): Clarence “Delco” Dalcour
A Summit in Paris
(Camille Productions)
Le Kèr Creole: Creole Composition & Stories from Louisiana
(University of New Orleans Press)
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