The California Honeydrops’ have kicked off their return to live music with a tour that includes two performances in New Orleans, supporting JJ Grey at the Orpheum Theater on October 14 and headlining Tipitinas on October 22. In celebration of their return to New Orleans, they will released the single “My Key Don’t Fit” by Dr. John and Ronnie Barron from their upcoming Covers from the Cave album (Tubtone Records).
Covers from the Cave is a compilation of Honeydrops’ covers of their many musical heroes. The Honeydrops had the honor of opening for Dr. John at Tipitinas in 2013.
Band member Lech Wierzynski reflected on his inspiration for this Dr. John cover: “When I was 16 I skipped my shift at the local bike store to go see Dr. John without telling my boss. I knew neither my dad nor my boss would let me get off work for a concert. So I just disappeared that morning and asked for forgiveness later. I got fired and came home in trouble. No regrets! Here’s a tribute to Dr. John, the man who helped me get my life priorities straight.”
Covers from the Cave began as a video series. Their cover of The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk” has reached more than 14 million people.
The Honeydrops are also pleased to share they have raised more than $2000 thus far during their 2021 tour as part of their philanthropic Spreadin’ Honey Project, donating to organizations such as BEF, Youth Rebuilding New Orleans, United Houma Nation, Another Gulf is Possible, Roots of Music and Denver Urban Gardens. They have also been participating in a carbon offset initiative which they began in Colorado in August 2021.
In 2020, the band launched their podcast, The Bee’s Wax, exploring the ways in which The California Honeydrops write and record their music. Each episode focuses on a single song, breaking down the process from both a songwriting and an engineering perspective and featuring anecdotes relevant to the piece’s evolution and meaning.
Covers from the Cave follows live albums Remember When: Vol. 3 and Honeydrops Live 2019, and 2018’s double-album Call It Home: Vol. 1 & 2, which Billboard praised as “a new level of ambition” for the band, and about which No Depression raved, “There’s something for everybody here, a fun-filled, funky goodie basket for all occasions.” VICE called the title track “a smooth, sensuous song, with a guitar part evoking a hot summer day, an organ that sends you to the front pew and a brass section that feels like something straight out of The Blues Brothers,” while Rolling Stone noted that it evokes “the greasy rumble of Booker T and the MGs in the opening bars before channeling the spiritual ecstasy of Sly and the Family Stone in the soaring choruses.”
Cofounded by Lech Wierzynski and Ben Malament, The Honeydrops got their start busking in Oakland, California, where they quickly developed a passionate following that has continued to grow over the course of more than a decade of nonstop tours and recording in the US, Australia and across Europe. Joined by Johnny Bones on tenor sax and clarinet, Lorenzo Loera on keyboards, and Beau Bradbury on bass, the band has stayed true to the group’s diverse sound and street-level origins, drawing on musical influences including Bay Area R&B, funk, Southern soul, Delta blues and New Orleans second-line.
In addition to their own extensive touring, The Honeydrops supported Bonnie Raitt throughout her 2016-17 North American tour and have performed in support of B. B. King, Allen Toussaint, Buddy Guy and Dr. John, among others. Widely acclaimed for the energy captured in both their live performances and recordings, the group remains dedicated to fostering a genuine connection with their audiences and listeners. “The whole point is to erase the boundaries between the crowd and us,” Wierzynski says, “to make people become a part of the whole thing by dancing along, singing, picking the songs, and generally coming out of their shells.”
