Issue Articles — BackTalk
Jimmy Robinson
Guitarist Jimmy Robinson remembers hitchhiking barefooted to the French Quarter from the Lakefront to play guitar when he was 16. He has played guitar in New Orleans all his life, […]
Harold Battiste
Harold Battiste is concerned about the future, and particularly what will survive. The saxophone player has spent a lifetime in music and has been a talent scout, an arranger, a […]
Terrance Simien
In February, OffBeat covered the controversy surrounding the first Grammy to be awarded for Best Cajun or Zydeco Album. The nominees were Louisiana artists Terrance Simien, the Pine Leaf Boys, […]
Ellis and Jason Marsalis
While we’re talking, Ellis Marsalis takes two calls and ignores another. Spring in New Orleans is a musician’s busiest time, and not only is Marsalis playing the French Quarter Fest […]
Glen David Andrews
The late January afternoon shadows shiver across the flagstones on Jackson Square as a crowd of about 50 tourists in winter clothes passively watches an unlikely collection of musicians—a chubby, […]
Damian Kulash of OK Go and Mark Mullins of Bonerama
A year and a half ago, OK Go was just another power pop band, but then it made a video for “Here It Goes Again” and that changed everything. The […]
Cyril Neville
In the days after Katrina, Cyril Neville hit every button possible. During “From the Big Apple to the Big Easy” benefit concert, he wore a handmade T-shirt that read, “Ethnic […]
Judith Owen and Harry Shearer
Since Katrina, Judith Owen and Harry Shearer have been two of the most outspoken champions of New Orleans, preaching its charms throughout their travels with a religious fervor. They are […]
Almost Everybody…
OffBeat started “Backtalk,” its monthly Q&A in January 1996, when Michael Tisserand interviewed BeauSoleil’s Michael Doucet with brothers Sid and Nathan Williams—the former, the proprietor of El-Sid-O’s; the latter, the […]
