Issue Articles
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.
Jonathon “Boogie” Long: Missing mentor Luther Kent, but moving forward
Jonathon “Boogie” Long has been making music for 30 of his 36 years on Earth. From a family of singers, he first played guitar at six years old. Growing up in the Baton Rouge area with sacred music, rhythm-and-blues, blues, jazz fusion and jam band music, he evolved into the eclectic performer and songwriter heard on his four, soon to be five albums.
Bobby Rush Talks Back
Bobby Rush, the blues man who put funk in the blues, turns 91 years old on November 10. A singer, harmonica player, guitarist and songwriter, his late-blooming mainstream success includes the three Grammy awards he’s won in the past decade. Rush’s 28th album, All My Love for You, clinched the latest of those golden gramophone statuettes in February.
Various Artists: Walking to New Orleans : An Aural Accompaniment (Jasmine Records)
This year is the 50 anniversary of John Broven’s classic history of New Orleans rhythm and blues. Groundbreaking at the time of its British publication in August 1974, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans continues to be essential reading for lovers of New Orleans music. A revised and updated third edition of the book appeared in 2016.
Rabadash Records owner John Autin Talks Back
Rabadash Records, an independent record company founded in New Orleans, celebrates its 40th anniversary September 7 at Chickie Wah Wah.
Deacon John’s Jump Blues: A great night in New Orleans makes its Vinyl debut
In 2003, Cyril Vetter and his Vetter Communications in Baton Rouge released one of the finest New Orleans music projects ever produced. An all-star celebration of the city’s golden age of rhythm and blues, the musically and technically excellent Deacon John’s Jump Blues originally consisted of a concert film, studio album and nationally aired documentary.
Steve Cropper Talks Back
As a producer, guitarist, songwriter and artist-and-repertoire man at Stax Records in Memphis, Steve Cropper helped generate a golden streak of soul hits.
Tom Bailey from the Thompson Twins Talks Back
Tom Bailey, who was one-third of the hit-making 1980s British trio the Thompson Twins, doesn’t have new music to promote this summer during his first American tour in six years. Nonetheless, he can make note of the 40th anniversary of the Thompson Twins’ best-selling album, 1984’s Into the Gap. Selling five million copies, Into the Gap generated international hits, including the sparkling “Hold Me Now” and “Doctor! Doctor!”
Legendary Session Musician Carol Kaye loves New Orleans musicians
Bassist and guitarist Carol Kaye’s thousands of rock and roll, pop and soul recording sessions produced classics by Sam Cooke, Ritchie Valens, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, the Righteous Brothers, Petula Clark, Jackie DeShannon, Glen Campbell, Lou Rawls, Herb Alpert, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, the Monkees, Joe Cocker and so many more.
