Issue Articles
Dead & Company Will Play Jazz Fest Debut
The Grateful Dead goes on forever. The Jerry Garcia-led band played its final show at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 9, 1995, just weeks before Garcia died, and has continued in various incarnations ever since.
Loose Cattle (Finally!) Set for First Jazz Fest
I’ve been a Loose Cattle devotee since 2017, when they debuted with the instant-classic holiday album, Seasonal Affective Disorder. The album encapsulates the push-pull dynamic of the molten core of my favorite Americana cowpunks in New Orleans: Michael Cerveris, who adores Christmas, and Kimberley Kaye, who is shadowed by the holiday’s darkside.
A Fascinating Background: Catherine Russell will have a good time at Jazz Fest
Catherine Russell may be making her Jazz Fest debut in 2023, but her New Orleans roots run deep. Her dad, Luis Russell, recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1929 and 1930 and served as Armstrong’s musical director from 1935 to 1940. She also contributed to Wynton Marsalis’s soundtrack for the 2019 docudrama “Bolden,” which explored the near-mythic life of Buddy Bolden, considered by many (including Armstrong) to be first person to play jazz.
Christmas This Year: A new holiday song by David Heatley with Michael Cerveris
Christmas This Year: A new holiday song by David Heatley with Michael Cerveris
Little Freddie King: Best Of The Beat Lifetime Achievement In Music
Best Of The Beat: Lifetime Achievement In Music – Little Freddie King, Little Freddie King’s Remarkable Lifetime Achievements Have Only Just Begun.
Inside the Mind of Alex McMurray: The quintessential New Orleans singer-songwriter boldly heads into The Recent Future.
Alex McMurray will never be Emperor of the Universe, nor would he ever aspire to be. That crown belongs to the once and future Emperor Ernie K-Doe. But McMurray does […]
Alex McMurray, The Recent Future (Diphthong Records)
“A good songwriter writes good songs. A great songwriter writes overarching poetic narratives. The songwriter as lyric poet doesn’t just turn out albums or mixes, they weave myths that touch […]
Fest Focus: Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones will perform on the Gentilly Stage at Jazz Fest on Saturday May 7, at 2:45 p.m. Rickie Lee Jones was no stranger to New Orleans the first […]
All you need is roux: A personal Jazz Fest retrospective
Jazz Fest popped my cherry in 1988, when I hit the mud running and instantly went native, gatoring in the Blues Tent (still on the infield then), joining in tribal […]
BackTalk: Michael Cerveris and Kimberly Kaye of Loose Cattle
When I reviewed Loose Cattle’s latest album, Heavy Lifting, released during a brief pandemic hiatus in the early summer of 2021, I called band co-founders Michael Cerveris and Kimberly Kaye […]
