Music
Katy Hobgood Ray featuring Dave Ray, I Dream of Water (Out of the Past Music)
So much American roots music is folk balladry when you get right down to it, or at least it started that way, which is why it’s disturbing how completely mainstream […]
T’Monde, Lights in the Harbor (Valcour Records)
On the third album in its eight-year existence, Cajun trio T’Monde continues to distinguish itself from its fuller band contemporaries. Vocals are its most salient attribute, especially given the angelic […]
Paul Sanchez, I’m a Song, I’m a Story, I’m a Ghost (Sanchez Music)
A Lonesome Coda After a prolific few years, Paul Sanchez is rather suddenly saying goodbye. He’s announced that this is his last album—he’s not the first artist to make […]
Bruce Sunpie Barnes and Rachel Breunlin, Le Kèr Creole: Creole Composition & Stories from Louisiana (University of New Orleans Press)
The Louisiana Creole language, referred to by many as Creole French, surrounds those living in Louisiana even more than most people probably realize. It’s been defined as “a francophone language […]
Charlie and the Tropicales, Presents for Everyone (Independent)
Do you know what goes great with kitsch? More kitsch! By early December, some of us are about to gag on the schmaltziness of the Christmas season. What’s the remedy? […]
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Big Band Holidays II (Blue Engine Records)
Playing live on its home turf in New York City, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates the season on Big Band Holidays II much as one would […]
Lost Bayou Ramblers, On Va Continuer! (DVD) / Asteur (CD) (Lost Bayou Records)
This combined DVD-CD offering of the documentary On Va Continuer! and the live album Asteur celebrates the Lost Bayou Ramblers’ 20th anniversary as a group. In 2016, director/cinematographer Bruno Doria […]
Dr. John & the WDR Big Band, Big Band Voodoo (Orange Music)
Dr. John is an essential piece of New Orleans for his R&B and rock ’n’ roll sessions at Cosimo Matassa’s studio, for the marvelous invention of his Gris-Gris music and […]
Billy Vera, Rip It Up—The Specialty Records Story (BMG)
Part of the RPM series of recent books documenting the history of U.S. independent record labels from the mid- 1940s to the late-1950s, Specialty Records was one of the most […]
Dave Jordan, Burning Sage (Independent)
Let’s get this out of the way from the get-go. Dave Jordan has crafted a great album; perhaps the best of his long career as one of New Orleans’ foremost […]
