Issue Articles — Features
The Deezle Chronicles: Part II
Darius “Deezle” Harrison is not only a multi-Grammy-winning producer who is now shaping the best and brightest musicians at The Throne, but he is also a great storyteller. His history is as New Orleans as it gets, and is a testament to focus, determination, and following what fulfills you. This is the second part in a series.
From Classical to Cajun: The LPO invites back the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Sweet Crude
Louis Michot, fiddler and singer with the Grammy award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, eagerly anticipates the Cajun band’s encore appearance with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. The LPO’s and Ramblers’ first collaborative concert at the Orpheum Theatre in New Orleans, released last year as Live: Orpheum Theatre NOLA, won both a Best of the Beat Award in January and a Grammy award in February for best regional roots music album.
Evolution of Rebelution: Soul Rebels “Walkin’ round in the 6th Ward…”
The highly successful and internationally renowned Soul Rebels have been around the world and, as they say, back again. The progressive, innovative, horn-heavy, eight-piece band that first caused a commotion on the brass band scene in 1991 and killed with its socially conscious, jamming anthem “Let Your Mind Be Free”—“free your mind with education, help build a better nation”—has faithfully returned to perform in its hometown of New Orleans and in particular at its long time gig at Le Bon Temps Roule.
Cosmic Traveling to Tomorrow: Yizracyah’s creative spirit is infectious
Yah’el Yizracyah Yisrael is a breath of fresh air on the New Orleans music scene. His expansive album Sunlight was released earlier this year, and another album is slated for 2025.
Walking to New Orleans: The golden anniversary for John Broven’s groundbreaking book
John Broven’s Walking to New Orleans, the first comprehensive book about the golden age of rhythm and blues in New Orleans, was published 50 years ago. Following its original publication in the United Kingdom in 1974, Pelican Publishing Company in Gretna issued the first American edition in 1978, retitled Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans.
Bringing Baton Rouge Blues to the Crescent City: Kenny Neal at the Blues & BBQ Festival
Those who missed Kenny Neal’s killer Jazz Fest performance this year get another chance to catch the multi-talented, Grammy-winning bluesman at his set at the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival.
Rollicking and Playful: Marcia Ball featured at Blues and Barbecue and Funk Fests
As Hurricane Francine approached Louisiana in September 2024, Marcia Ball was at home on a sunny day in Austin, Texas. A resident of the Texas’ capital since 1970, the singer, piano player and songwriter lives on a street lined with old houses and oak trees in a neighborhood that could be in New Orleans, the source of her musical inspiration, or Baton Rouge, the city where her music career began.
Big Easy Boogie: Singer-pianist Mitch Woods Rendezvous in New Orleans
Mitch Woods fell in love with New Orleans music during his first visit to the city in 1981. A native of New York City and longtime West Coast resident, Woods has periodically lived in New Orleans. A boogie-woogie and rhythm-and-blues singer-pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, his next trip to the city will see him performing October 13 at the Crescent City Blues and Barbecue Festival and October 17 at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro.
Whose House? Shagg’s House!: Expect the Unexpected with Ryan “Shaggadelic” Batiste
Ryan “Shaggadelic” Batiste has been in the lab, and the fruits of his labor are coming to light. He has a new album, Shagg’s House, as a featured artist with his group Raw Revolution at Gentilly Fest, and his own Locals’ Fest just turned five this year.
Living Up To Its Moniker: The TBC Brass Band
The TBC Brass Band, which closes out this year’s Treme Fall Festival on Saturday, October 26, 2024, has truly lived up to its name. Formed in 2002 by students at Carver and Kennedy high schools, it carried on and remained a unit through devastatingly tough hardships such as hurricane Katrina and the murder of a saxophonist Brandon Franklin.
