Music
Sweet Magnolia: Miss Missed Connections (Independent)
Maybe Sweet Magnolia’s saxophonist Meg Dwyer is on to something by combining her New Orleans Brass Band experience with original compositions sung from a woman’s perspective.
Ben Fox: The Pavanist (Independent)
One thing is quite certain. As a bandleader and composer, it would be difficult to put bassist Ben Fox into any musical box.
James Martin: From Here. (Independent)
Saxophonist and singer/songwriter James Martin’s latest release, From Here., opens with a piano riff right out of an old school New Orleans R&B sensibility.
Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners: Rockin’ the Bayou (Hardcore Records)
Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners. Leave it to Leroy Thomas. Nearly a decade after his 2015 release We Love You Leroy, Thomas returns with a dancefloor-filling 14 tracks rife with novel content and up-tempo tunes that live up to the title’s claim of rockin,’ as in Rockin’ the Bayou.
Wade Hymel: Who Said That? (Independent)
Anybody who quotes a Yes song title during a rockabilly song is automatically okay by me (The line in question: “Now you’re in my face, screaming yours is no disgrace.”) That’s one example of how eclectic things get on Wade Hymel’s solo debut. Hymel is normally a band guy, playing drums in Dash Rip Rock, but here he sounds more like a songwriter turned loose.
Bill Robison and Friends: Vestigial Limbo (Independent)
When Hammond-based rockers Snake Hat slithered away for good, the group’s guitarist and songwriter Bill Robison had beau coup originals dangling aimlessly about, which he jokingly referred to as vestigial limbs. To further extend the joke, the jovial punster thought of his songs as suspended in limbo, not knowing if they would ever surface on a recording, hence the clever play-on-words title.
Dr. John: Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: Singles 1968-1974 (Omnivore)
As if anyone can forget the singular genius of Dr. John, a new collection of his Atco singles reminds us of his mos’ scocious musical medicine.
Johnny Mastro & Mama’s Boys: Elmore James For President (CSB Roxy)
If you think it’s been a while since you’ve seen a Johnny Mastro & Mama’s Boys full-length studio recording, you’re probably right.
Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note Records)
Saxophone giant Charles Lloyd’s new album, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, his 11th on the Blue Note label, opens dramatically with just the mellow, tonally plush sounds of drums provided by “our own,” Shreveport, Louisiana native Brian Blade.
Father Ron & Friends: Forever the Seasons (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
Father Ron Clingenpeel is both a genuine clergyman (a retired Episcopal priest) and a genuine scholar of folk music; he hosts a folk show on WWOZ and here presents an album of original and borrowed songs steeped in the classic influences of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.
