Most books about New Orleans musicians repeat the musical history we all love and grew up with, but few describe the day-to-day struggles faced by the artists trying to continue this legacy. Local music writer (and former OffBeat editor Keith Spera tells those stories in his new book Groove Interrupted: Loss, Renewal, and the Music of New Orleans. In it, the Times-Picayune critic acts as a witness to the trials and endeavors of local artists, presenting them as people first and musicians second.
The idea for the book came to Spera about three years ago as he was looking over pieces he wrote for the newspaper over the years. “I had seen a theme emerging,” he says. “I was thinking maybe this could be part of a larger [book].” Because New Orleans offers a plethora of musical genres, Spera tried to choose musicians from as many genres as reasonably possible to include in the collection. “Some people think New Orleans music is jazz. Some think it’s rhythm and blues. Some people think it’s rap—it’s all that stuff.” Gatemouth Brown, Juvenile, Mystikal, Phil
Anselmo, Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint are just of a few of the artists featured.
His decision-making process was influenced by his relationships with the musicians. “I wanted to use artists that I had a strong history with, who I’ve spent a lot of time with firsthand,” he says. “I wanted [the stories] to be scenes that I witnessed. Going to New York with Fats, talking to Aaron Neville throughout the week when he came back to bury his wife. I wanted it to be artists that I had that kind of respect for, so that made it easy.”
Facing adversity is the common link between these musicians. Some of the adversity came during and after Hurricane Katrina, but Groove Interrupted isn’t a Katrina book per se. “I don’t bill it as a Katrina book, but these are contemporary stories of New Orleans musicians, so the storm’s going to factor into the stories of any New Orleanian whose life I’ve been writing about for the past six or seven years.”
Other forms of adversity show up just from trying to record the music, as was the case for Jeremy Davenport. “He hadn’t made a record in 10 years,” Spera says. “He went into the studio and let me be there for the whole process and record the dialogue. It was him dealing with all the creative economic issues of ego that come off the studio when you’re making records.”
Spera’s chapter on Mystikal deals with the rapper trying to restart his career after serving a stretch in prison. “Mystikal’s saga is a very human one,” Spera says. It’s an up from the bootstraps success story. He made some incredibly bad decisions and paid a huge price for that. He was a musician at the height of his success when he had his tumble, and basically went on ice for six years, and is now trying to restart his career and convince everyone that he’s not a bad guy.”
Some of the stories are less dramatic. Spera includes his account of spending time with Fats Domino in New York City. “He was so disinterested in being a tourist,” Spera says. He wanted to eat room service and was pissed off that they cut the fat off his steak. You can take Fats out of New Orleans, but you can’t take New Orleans out of Fats.”
Spera will sign Groove Interrupted with Allen Toussaint at Octavia Books Tuesday, August 2 at 6 p.m. He’ll be joined by Jeremy Davenport for a signing Friday, August 5 at Garden District Books at 6 p.m. and Sunday, August 7 at Maison at noon.
