Guitarist Leo Nocentelli is one of funk’s iconic players. His stamp is on so many classic recordings from the Meters as well as countless albums recorded when his band was the house ensemble at Allen Toussaint’s studios, that the appearance of a “lost” acoustic album has garnered major attention.

The story has been told already, but a brief synopsis includes a major flood, a foreclosed storage space in California and a fortuitous find in a flea market. Nocentelli himself has stated that he forgot all about the recording, which was made in 1971 during a lull in the first phase of The Meters’ long career.

Enamored with the burgeoning singer/songwriter scene that was emerging out of the electric rock ’n’ roll of the 1960s, Nocentelli put down his electric guitar and tried his hand at writing personal songs and playing acoustic guitar. The results reflect the worldview of a 25-year-old at one of the first of life’s many crossroads.

One of the standout cuts is “Pretty Mittie,” which opens with a spoken-word intro, and tells the story of a man trying to get out of farm work by attempting to find a job in the city. The stellar acoustic guitar accompaniment is understated, but clearly evokes the pathos of the title character who’s tired of “working my fingers to the bone, slopping those hogs all day long.”

The album features the crucially unsung New Orleans drummer James Black, along with Nocentelli’s longtime musical partners, bassist George Porter, Jr. and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, and Toussaint on piano. Another Side opens a portal to alternative musical universe—one with acoustic tours, songwriter showcases and perhaps even a number one record on the pop charts like Nocentelli’s contemporaries from the period.

More significantly, the album showcases the nascent songwriting skills of a composer whose later work was often subsumed into a group dynamic for the greater good of the funkiest band to ever come out of New Orleans.