Issue Articles
Blurring Boundaries: Molly Tuttle is respectful of tradition but is not bound to it
Molly Tuttle & Golden HighwayFriday May 5 at 1 p.m., Alison Miner StageFriday May 5 at 4:15 p.m., Fais Do-Do Stage Getting back to her roots proved a winning move […]
Hey Hey, All Together: Ivan Neville’s Touch My Soul is his first solo album in 19 years
If you’re a renowned New Orleans artist and you want to write a song about the need for everyone to get along, it will probably come out funky and uplifting. But if you’re Ivan Neville, you can also pull out your address book and get a dream team of guests to perform it with you.
A Forever Family: For the Continental Drifters the story is not over
The Flatlanders once claimed they were “more a legend than a band,” but the Continental Drifters are a little of both. Anyone who followed the Drifters in the ’90s-’00s can vouch for the volume of terrific songs, the onstage spirit and camaraderie, and the inexplicability that a band this good never got massively big.
Homegrown Indie Pop: Joe Adragna and The Junior League’s melodic songs
Any talk with Junior League mastermind Joe Adragna is bound to come around to the glories of classic pop. He’s been immersed in that world since he heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the radio at age four, and his knowledge of pop’s back pages informs his savvy as a songwriter. Name a deep track by the Monkees or the Cyrkle and he can probably sing you the chorus hook, and then he might go off and write one of his own.
Unapologetically Rock and Roll: Michael Mullins and Zita channel rock and roll energy
The first time Zita frontman Michael Mullins heard the classic Led Zeppelin track “The Ocean,” he wondered why these English guys were stealing a song from his dad’s band Bonerama.
Karma & the Killjoys: Hellscape (Independent)
Obsessive love–there, I’ve got your attention—is always a rich topic for a pop song. And Baton Rouge band Karma & the Killjoys make good use of it in their album’s opener, “Fate is You.” With its pounding piano and pleading “whoa-oh’s,” it spotlights the dramatic delivery of singer/songwriters Sydni Myers and Rain Scott-Catoire (the latter also on piano). The sentiments may be a little dark—not many love songs ask the beloved to point a pistol at the singer’s heart—but it’s also a shimmering bit of pure pop.
Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia: Blood Brothers (Gulf Coast Records)
If you know Zito’s work, you know he’s too tasteful to make this an album of endless guitar showdowns.
Big Easy Rick & N’awlins: Lucky Dog (Independent)
Big Easy Rick (real name Rick Windhorst) is in fact so crazy about his hometown that he runs the risk of getting carried away: “New Orleans Sunday Afternoon” makes that time and place sound like nothing short of heaven, “Hugga Bugga Choo Choo” celebrates the street music he grew up with, and his song about Jazz Fest, “Ain’t Been to the Fest,” could double as an ad for the event. Even the couple of love songs (including the title track, about meeting his wife) sneak in some local color.
Dash Rip Rock, Cowpunk (Whiskey Tan)
When a veteran band re-cuts songs it first recorded two or three decades ago, you can usually expect the new versions to be slow and sluggish by comparison. Not the case with Dash Rip Rock, who make a point of honor to play these tunes faster and wilder than they did originally. Take “DMZ” which appeared on their 1986 debut and opens this new set: The original was a feisty rockabilly, this one’s a full-on frenzy. And the new tempo seems better suited to the song’s still-timely lyrics about living in a dangerous neighborhood.
Clint Pigg, Dead Man Walking (Independent)
Doesn’t sound like singer, guitarist Clint Pigg feels too good about himself, to judge from his album’s opening title track.
