Issue Articles — Cover Story
Cowboy Mouth Finds a Way Home
Fred LeBlanc gazes across the House of Blues dance floor at an audience of his peers. LeBlanc and Cowboy Mouth partner Paul Sanchez are performing an acoustic duet set as […]
The subdudes—What Goes On Behind the Levee?
Tommy Malone of the subdudes sits on an old rocking chair on the rear second story porch of his Mid-City home. It’s a balmy January afternoon in New Orleans, and […]
Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music: Allen Toussaint
In 1960 Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas showed up to audition at WYLD studio in New Orleans for Joe Banashak and Larry McKinley of Minit Records. The fledgling label was […]
Katrina Blues
It is more than a little strange to be back in New Orleans on the first cool-ish night of autumn after the summer that would never end. That mustard gas […]
Ghost Music: Shannon McNally
A lazy, sun-dappled August breeze rustled the broad leaves of the maple tree shading Song Café on Chartres Street. It was a quiet Sunday at midday and only two people […]
Shannon Powell: A Decidedly Different Drummer
“I had a hell of an upbringing in New Orleans—rich, rich, rich,” declares Shannon Powell. The drummer, who shows off his prowess as vocalist on his recording debut as leader, […]
Ivan Neville: The Return of the Prodigal Son
“If Keith Richards tells you you’re a little too out-of-control, you’re in bad shape.” When Ivan Neville was born in New Orleans on August 19, 1959, his mother Joel’s family […]
Around the Clock with Kermit Ruffins
“I have to light up the rainy day grill,” observes Kermit Ruffins on a cool, wet Wednesday morning in early April. “I love this weather,” the trumpeter and vocalists declares […]
Tim Laughlin: Clarinet Crusader
According to his friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Tom McDermott, “Tim’s sound makes a lot of other clarinetists sound like they’re playing kazoos.” Yet another unique aspect of Tim Laughlin’s […]
