Issue Articles
Krewe du Vieux Beats Off: Jan Ramsey named Queen of Krewe du Vieux
After picking OffBeat founder and published Jan Ramsey as the 2023 Queen, the folks at Krewe du Vieux tread a little lightly when telling her what they had decided on for the theme.
Positive Vibes: Mike Dillon Is The Musician Who Can’t Say No
Percussionist Mike Dillon’s presence and talents are coveted
Mushroom Crowd: Mark Bingham will release 22 archival albums
Mushroom Crowd: Mark Bingham will release 22 archival albums
Come On & Get It, Honey: Judith Owen’s lusty love letter to New Orleans
Come On & Get It, Honey: Judith Owen’s love letter to New Orleans. When Judith Owen and her sister were kids in the London suburbs, they danced around and sang along to the jumping swing-blues of Julia Lee & Her Boyfriends’ “The Spinach Song,” a 1949 single in their dad’s jazz collection.
Ruthie Foster, Healing Time (Blue Corn Music)
If Healing Time, Ruthie Foster’s first studio album since 2017’s triumphant Joy Comes Back, were a musical, the title song would be the buoyant, raucous, gospel-stomp show-stopper—the moment at which our heroine not only realizes that living in joy is a choice, but emphatically makes that choice.
Dan Storper talks back
In 1967, when Dan Storper was 16, his aunt and uncle invited him to go on a trip with their family to northern Mexico. It was life-changing, to say the least.
Finding Her Home: Dayna Kurtz has harvested the fruit of years cultivating her place in New Orleans music
Dayna Kurtz is sitting in a rocker on her porch, mostly in the dark, clipping something with a pair of scissors. “I’m cleaning garlic,” she says. “It’s been hung and […]
Ruthie Foster talks back
There likely aren’t many artists who have done versions of both Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and the standard “Fly Me To the Moon,” the former front-porch blues style with a […]
Tank and the Bangas, Red Balloon (Verve Forecast)
“What’s up people?” The first voice you hear on Red Balloon, after a quick spin of a radio dial, is not Tarriona “Tank” Ball. It’s TV star Wayne Brady, in […]
We Really Love to Make You Smile: Tarriona Ball of Tank and the Bangas represents New Orleans
But it feel like Maze at Jazz Fest… If you’ve witnessed the phenomenon that Tarriona Ball—Tank to you—is talking about, well, you know. If you witnessed her say it during […]
