Issue Articles
Sweet Crude: Drums and Voices
There are two phrases that Sweet Crude try their hardest to avoid when talking about their upcoming project: One is “back to our roots,” the other is “with a little help from our friends.” Both phrases are things you’ve heard many times before, while Sweet Crude’s music decidedly is not.
Carolyn Wonderland: Let’s Play a Game
The last time Texas guitar virtuoso Carolyn Wonderland played at Jazz Fest in 2018 was an especially memorable one: It was her debut with British blues legend John Mayall, and she was so new to the band that she hadn’t met them all, much less rehearsed.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Of all the acts headlining the Blues Tent this year, there won’t be many who’ve ever had a Top Ten single on the pop charts. The Fabulous Thunderbirds managed it with 1986’s “Tuff Enuff,” still a rare achievement with a blues band.
007: 25th Anniversary Reunion
“The whole thing is a happy accident,” says Jeffrey Clemens, mastermind of the rocksteady band 007. “We never said, ‘Let’s figure out something that nobody else has played in New Orleans.’ It was more like, ‘I‘ve just discovered this music and I absolutely have to play it.’ And I didn’t even know how to play it. Even though it sounds like reggae and has elements of that, it isn’t reggae. And you can’t play it with just anybody, because you can’t buy alchemy.”
Gal Holiday: Three Chords, but still the truth
Vanessa Niemann, alias Gal Holiday, didn’t grow up on country music, and didn’t fully embrace it until she’d left her Maryland home and came to New Orleans. But she found it deep in her soul nonetheless, and the connection’s gotten deeper in the 21 years since Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue first appeared. “I was a raver; I grew up on alternative and hip-hop. I never saw the band going on this long or becoming this popular.”
Organic: The River Benders’ quirky Americana vibe
What better birthplace could there be for a Louisiana roots music band than the parking lot of a seafood restaurant? That’s where the River Benders first took shape—specifically at Seither’s Seafood in Harahan, when the COVID pandemic kept singer and guitarists Jake Eckert and Aaron Wilkinson from gigging with their regular bands, the New Orleans Suspects and the Honey Island Swamp Band.
LVVRS: Do You Wanna Rock and Roll?
As a great philosopher once said, it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. The Lafayette-based LVVRS have every intention of being the next area band to get there. Armed with a stack of anthemic songs and an arena-friendly sound, LVVRS have been a local favorite long enough to have the next level in sight.
Woodenhead: Celebrating 50 Years
Back in 2003 Woodenhead released a CD called Perseverance—a title that celebrated their playing proudly non-commercial music, out of love and against the odds. And here’s the kicker: They chose that title less than halfway through what’s now a 50-year career.
Sarah Quintana: Baby Don’t
“Making feel-good music is harder than I thought thanks to pandemics, hurricanes, this being 2025 and life being life,” Sarah Quintana says. “But the sense you have of being in the moment, being part of a community, having a good rehearsal—all that is encouraging.
Loose Cattle: Somebody’s Monster (Single Lock Records)
Though they recorded it well in advance, I doubt we’ll hear a song that speaks for post-election America better than this album’s opener, “Further On.” The lyrics’ message is simple—“I thought we’d be further on than this”—and while it states the dashed hopes that many of us are feeling, it comes down that much stronger on the case for peace, love and understanding.
