Issue Articles
Cyril Neville Preserves Neighborhood Culture
If you see Cyril Neville perform this year, you’ll probably hear a song called “Don’t Wait ’Till I’m Gone.” It’s a typically fiery bit of funk, with lyrics that say what a lot of well-traveled musicians are probably thinking: “Give me my flowers while I can still smell them, hear my stories while I can still tell them. Give me my medals while I can still wear them. Don’t wait till I’m gone!”
Father Ron & Friends: Forever the Seasons (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
Father Ron Clingenpeel is both a genuine clergyman (a retired Episcopal priest) and a genuine scholar of folk music; he hosts a folk show on WWOZ and here presents an album of original and borrowed songs steeped in the classic influences of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.
Let’s Go Smoke Some Pot: 4/20 With Dash Rip Rock
In boggles the mind that a city that celebrates everything else would not have a music festival on 4/20. Dash Rip Rock leader Bill Davis noticed that as well and put together a bash at NOLA Brewing last year. The mini-fest, now dubbed “Everybody Solo,” returns to the venue this year—on April 20 of course.
New World Rising: After two decades Brian Stoltz is back!
This may come as a shock to anyone who’s ever seen him play, but Brian Stoltz doesn’t think of himself as a hotshot guitar player. There’s no doubt that Stoltz can solo with the best of them—and he literally did solo with the best of them, as a longtime Neville Brothers and funky Meters member, and as a studio player for Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt and others. But for him, the real action happens when you sit down and put pen to paper.
Lynn Drury: High Tide (Independent)
With her last album Dancin’ in the Kitchen, Lynn Drury showed how to write an uplifting album about life during shutdown. Appropriately her new one is largely about getting back into the world and features an outgoing sound to match.
Zoomst: Aboard the Good Ship (Independent)
Here’s a good argument that you can make any existing form of music more interesting by New Orleans-izing it. Zoomst is very much a prog band, with obvious influences that go back to the best of progressive rock’s ’70s heyday.
Tin Men: Hit it! (Independent)
The Tin Men are all about making daring feats of musicology look easy. Like, how in the world do you go full-throttle P-Funk in a two-thirds acoustic band with no […]
The Continental Drifters: Live at the 2023 Jazz & Heritage Festival (Munck Music)
The Continental Drifters never made a proper live album during their original tenure, and finally got around to it during their reunion at Jazz Fest last spring.
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages: Glory (Folc Records)
It’s been a whopping 40 years since Barrence Whitfield & the Savages were first formed in Boston by a couple garage-rock veterans (who’d just exited local legends the Lyres) and a newly discovered, wailing maniac of a lead singer.
Jack’s Waterfall: Call Dr. John (M.C. Records)
This salute to Dr. John, and to New Orleans R&B as a whole, was put together by Long Island-based pianist Jack Licitra and his crew, all of whom are well-steeped in the tradition (they’ve even subtitled the album as an “American Roots Project”).
