They used to call him “Jumpin’” Johnny Sansone, and the name still fits — the roots rocker is especially good at jumping from one style to the next, playing festive rocking zydeco on accordion, then switching to harmonica for some low-down swamp rock. In fact, Sansone’s music is so steeped in Louisiana sound and ambiance that you’d never guess he was born in West Orange, New Jersey. Still he was well established on the local circuit by the ‘90s when he made a couple of strong albums for Rounder Records. His 1996 disc, Crescent City Moon won four of OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards that year.
Johnny Sansone | Photo: Greg Miles
His most recent albums have put the deeper side of his songwriting forward — notably 2011’s The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too, which features an all-star band of Anders Osborne and Stanton Moore. Recent gigs have featured an equally impressive back-up crew, with guitarist John Fohl (late of Dr. John’s Lower 911), and drummer Russ Broussard.
Johnny Sansone performs this Saturday, April 6 as the featured artist at the Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall’s Spring 2013 Concert Series at 6:30pm.
430 Lamarque Street
Old Mandeville
