From the recent Grammy successes of Jon Batiste and Lost Bayou Ramblers to the explosion of Chapel Hart onto the national stage and the rising chatter around emerging artists Lilli Lewis and Joy Clark, the Americana music of New Orleans-based and Louisiana-born performers is commanding attention.
The Crescent City is exporting more than the funk and jazz music it’s known for, and the birthplace of America’s music is ripe with unique Americana voices. New Orleans-based multiplatinum-selling songwriter Jim McCormick says, “Americana music is always pushing the boundaries of received definitions of genre.”
Building on recent successes, Lewis—along with artists Jeremy Joyce and Ever More Nest—are launching NOLAxNashville, the first New Orleans-focused showcases during the Americana Music Festival and Conference, a five-day multi-venue event in Nashville from September 13-17. Performers include Lewis, Joyce, Ever More Nest, Mia Borders, Lynn Drury, Shawn Williams, and Loose Cattle (fronted by cult-podcaster Kimberly Kaye and Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris, currently starring in HBO’s The Gilded Age). The diverse lineup shows just how seamlessly New Orleans’ music scene increasingly integrates intersectional identity.
NOLAxNashville: Crescent City Meets Music City will showcase New Orleans artists on Thursday, September 15, at Vinyl Tap, 2038 Greenwood Ave., and Sunday, September 18, at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E Palestine Ave. These shows are open to the public.
The show at Vinyl Tap, from 1–4 p.m., is open to all ages and features Lewis, Ever More Nest, Drury, Williams, Loose Cattle and Joyce with Carolyn Broussard. The performances at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge will get underway from 1–5 p.m., featuring Williams, Borders, Drury, and Joyce with Broussard.
Grammy and CMA-nominated McCormick has celebrated three number one songs on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, placing songs with the likes of Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, and Jeff Tweedy. “New Orleans music has always done [that], so today’s sounds of New Orleans are an exciting fit with the rich and textured multiplicities of the current Americana music world,” McCormick said.
With 11 nominations and five wins (including Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song), New Orleans native Jon Batiste placed the city on music’s highest stage. Meanwhile, Chapel Hart hit the Golden Buzzer on America’s Got Talent, earning an invite to the Grand Ole Opry and high praise from country legends Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker. A new name-earning national acclaim is Clark, whose singing, guitar work, and songwriting have landed her time in her own spotlight and in that of Allison Russell’s band currently on tour with Brandi Carlile.
Borders—both a performer and entrepreneur—organized and performed at an expansive PrideFest earlier this year at Zony Mash Project that included Lewis, Ever More Nest and Loose Cattle, all queer-identifying artists. Earlier this spring, Offbeat highlighted the city’s blooming Americana star power with a feature centered on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival performances of Lewis, Clark, and Borders, all black, queer frontwomen.
Established Americana artists like Hurray for the Riff Raff and 2022 Americana Fest showcasing artists Leyla McCalla and The Deslondes are all touring with exceptional new albums, as is Lewis, whose 2021 album titled “Americana” earned high praise from Rolling Stone and claimed a Top 10 spot from NPR’s All Songs Considered.
“Americana artists in New Orleans often feel we’re swimming upstream thanks to the perception that the main thrust of Louisiana music exports centers around funk, trad jazz, blues, and Mardi Gras music,” says Lewis. “But after spending eight years running a Louisiana label centered around that, I realized it could all be viewed as Americana with a widened lens. I’m excited that those of us who claim that moniker are forming a community, and it only makes sense to bring our scene to Nashville.”
For more information on NOLAxNashville, visit here.
