Issue Articles
Troy Sawyer says Girls Can Play Trumpets, Too
Trumpeter Troy Sawyer’s program teaches trumpet to girls ages eight to nineteen.
As important as trumpet is in New Orleans, young women and girls haven’t played the instrument in significant numbers in the home of jazz. Troy Sawyer, a trumpeter, band leader and music educator, wants to change that.
Chris Isaak talks back
Chris Isaak’s new album arrives a few months after the Americana Music Association honored him with a lifetime achievement award. Everybody Knows It’s Christmas is the singer-songwriter’s second holiday album in a career that includes 14 albums, international hit singles and dozens of acting roles in film and television.
Rhythm Is The First Component: New Orleans Jazz Museum exhibit Drumsville modulates to book form
In 2018, Robert H. Cataliotti, an author and educator from Maryland, co-curated the Drumsville! exhibit with Jazz Museum music curator David Kunian. Cataliotti has now written Drumsville! The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat, an extensively researched and illustrated 228-page book published by LSU Press.
Tony Dagradi: Best Of The Beat Lifetime Achievement In Music Education
Best Of The Beat: Lifetime Achievement In Music Education – Tony Dagradi
Charlie Musselwhite talks back
Charlie Musselwhite’s full-circle life with the blues took him from Mississippi to Memphis, Memphis to Chicago, Chicago to San Francisco and, most recently, Northern California to Mississippi. “I’m just a […]
Straight From The Heart: Baton Rouge’s Kenny Neal celebrates his Louisiana roots
The Crescent City Blues and Barbecue Festival is among Kenny Neal’s favorite festivals in the world. “That’s our old stomping grounds,” the widely traveled Neal said at his recording studio […]
She’s Got It: New Orleans helped Layla Musselwhite play the blues
Layla Musselwhite and her father, Charlie Musselwhite, are both performing at the Crescent City Blues and Barbecue Festival on October 15. The elder Musselwhite is known for his Chicago-style blues, […]
Unlimited Potential: Chapel Hart wins the hearts of country music fans
Rising to the America’s Got Talent finals this summer, the New Orleans-based Chapel Hart won millions of new fans. The country music trio featuring sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and […]
Good Karma: Baton Rouge’s Karma and the Killjoys make their New Orleans debut
For convenience’s sake, Karma and the Killjoys call their music “piano rock.” But that easy-to-digest label belies the female-led band’s bold fusion of pop, rock and musical theater. The head-turning […]
Up From The Swamp: Swamp pop hero Tommy McLain returns to the studio
Tommy McLain is having a moment—a bright moment in the classic swamp pop singer’s long life of golden ups and disastrous downs. North Carolina’s Yep Roc Records has just released […]
