Issue Articles — BackTalk
David Shaw Talks Back
David Shaw, singer and songwriter with the Revivalists, reached national fame with the New Orleans band’s 2015 single, “Wish I Knew You.” A number one hit, the song was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Bobby Rush Talks Back
Bobby Rush, the blues man who put funk in the blues, turns 91 years old on November 10. A singer, harmonica player, guitarist and songwriter, his late-blooming mainstream success includes the three Grammy awards he’s won in the past decade. Rush’s 28th album, All My Love for You, clinched the latest of those golden gramophone statuettes in February.
Rabadash Records owner John Autin Talks Back
Rabadash Records, an independent record company founded in New Orleans, celebrates its 40th anniversary September 7 at Chickie Wah Wah.
Steve Cropper Talks Back
As a producer, guitarist, songwriter and artist-and-repertoire man at Stax Records in Memphis, Steve Cropper helped generate a golden streak of soul hits.
Tom Bailey from the Thompson Twins Talks Back
Tom Bailey, who was one-third of the hit-making 1980s British trio the Thompson Twins, doesn’t have new music to promote this summer during his first American tour in six years. Nonetheless, he can make note of the 40th anniversary of the Thompson Twins’ best-selling album, 1984’s Into the Gap. Selling five million copies, Into the Gap generated international hits, including the sparkling “Hold Me Now” and “Doctor! Doctor!”
Ani DiFranco talks back
Ani DiFranco knows what it means to miss New Orleans. She’s been away from the city since January. Performing eight shows a week on Broadway, singing, dancing and acting the role of Persephone in the Tony and Grammy winning musical Hadestown.
Anders Osborne Talks Back
Anders Osborne moved to New Orleans from his native Sweden when he was 19 and never looked back. Sixteen albums and four decades later, Osborne is a legacy New Orleans artist set to headline Jazz Fest for the 35th year in a row. His new album, Picasso’s Villa (5th Ward/Missing Piece) is out this month.
Ledisi Talks Back
Ledisi’s Good Life tour is bringing her home to New Orleans. Even though the Grammy-winning singing star and actress was just 10 years old when she moved to Oakland, California, she carries the city of her birth with her everywhere she goes.
Pat Metheny talks back
The always exploring jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny is bringing his first solo tour to New Orleans. The international Dream Box tour, which reaches the Orpheum Theater on March 16, follows last year’s release of Metheny’s Grammy-nominated solo album of the same name.
Yo La Tengo’s James McNew Talks Back
A shining, surviving example of 1980s indie-rock, the New Jersey-spawned Yo La Tengo is 40 years into its continuously creative existence—singer and guitarist Ira Kaplan and his wife, singer and drummer Georgia Hubley, co-founded their shared life’s work in 1984. Bassist James McNew joined the couple in 1991, coming aboard in time to record 1992’s May I Sing With Me and write as well as play for the album cited as the trio’s first masterpiece, 1993’s Pain.
