Dan Phillips’ Home of the Groove is mandatory reading for fans of New Orleans music. He brings a fan’s passion and a historian’s attention to detail to writing about the city’s R&B, soul and funk music, and he employs those characteristics to focus on the famous and obscure alike.

Today’s post celebrates the beginning of Carnival Season by telling the story of the lesser known version of “Second Line,” the first Wild Magnolias album, and an overlooked Mardi Gras album featuring Allen Toussaint and programmed drums.