Issue Articles
David Shaw Talks Back
David Shaw, singer and songwriter with the Revivalists, reached national fame with the New Orleans band’s 2015 single, “Wish I Knew You.” A number one hit, the song was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Nation Beat: Archaic Humans (Ropeadope Records)
Nation Beat is the vibrantly realized musical vision of its leader and founder, Scott Kettner. A drummer, percussionist, composer and educator in New Jersey, Kettner formed Nation Beat to merge his jazz foundation with Brazilian rhythm.
Piper and the Hard Times: Revelation (Hard Times Records)
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Piper and the Hard Times play a brawny array of blues, rock, soul, rhythm-and-blues and funk. Individual songs on the band’s new album, Revelation, can tilt closer to one style or another.
White Noise & Lightning: Author Sean Kelly’s tribute to The Continental Drifters
In 2005, Susan Cowsill met 13-year-old Sean Kelly at a Hootie and the Blowfish concert in Buffalo, New York. As an opening act that night, Cowsill was setting up her merchandise table when Kelly introduced himself.
Rollicking and Playful: Marcia Ball featured at Blues and Barbecue and Funk Fests
As Hurricane Francine approached Louisiana in September 2024, Marcia Ball was at home on a sunny day in Austin, Texas. A resident of the Texas’ capital since 1970, the singer, piano player and songwriter lives on a street lined with old houses and oak trees in a neighborhood that could be in New Orleans, the source of her musical inspiration, or Baton Rouge, the city where her music career began.
Big Easy Boogie: Singer-pianist Mitch Woods Rendezvous in New Orleans
Mitch Woods fell in love with New Orleans music during his first visit to the city in 1981. A native of New York City and longtime West Coast resident, Woods has periodically lived in New Orleans. A boogie-woogie and rhythm-and-blues singer-pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, his next trip to the city will see him performing October 13 at the Crescent City Blues and Barbecue Festival and October 17 at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro.
Jonathon “Boogie” Long: Missing mentor Luther Kent, but moving forward
Jonathon “Boogie” Long has been making music for 30 of his 36 years on Earth. From a family of singers, he first played guitar at six years old. Growing up in the Baton Rouge area with sacred music, rhythm-and-blues, blues, jazz fusion and jam band music, he evolved into the eclectic performer and songwriter heard on his four, soon to be five albums.
Bobby Rush Talks Back
Bobby Rush, the blues man who put funk in the blues, turns 91 years old on November 10. A singer, harmonica player, guitarist and songwriter, his late-blooming mainstream success includes the three Grammy awards he’s won in the past decade. Rush’s 28th album, All My Love for You, clinched the latest of those golden gramophone statuettes in February.
Various Artists: Walking to New Orleans : An Aural Accompaniment (Jasmine Records)
This year is the 50 anniversary of John Broven’s classic history of New Orleans rhythm and blues. Groundbreaking at the time of its British publication in August 1974, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans continues to be essential reading for lovers of New Orleans music. A revised and updated third edition of the book appeared in 2016.
Rabadash Records owner John Autin Talks Back
Rabadash Records, an independent record company founded in New Orleans, celebrates its 40th anniversary September 7 at Chickie Wah Wah.
