Photo from my poster collection by Nick DeRiso Dr. John further defines an ass-shaking new synthesis on Desitively Bonnaroo. Even today, there’s really no roadmap for the crazy-eyed co-mingling of R&B, jazz, island beats, blues, boogie funk and hoodoo whackadoo splashed across this LP, recorded alongside fellow New Orleans legends Allen Toussaint and the Meters more than 35 years ago. [...]

by Nick DeRiso You can’t fault Gregg Allman his nostalgia on Low Country Blues. Legendarily restless, he’s still a man, and the leader of a band, that’s been through a great deal. Just as importantly, this record’s hat-tips to blues, R&B, gospel and jazz only underscore how each provided uniquely American spices in the Allman Brothers Band‘s bubbling Southern-rock synthesis. [...]

by Nick DeRiso Grateful Dead co-founder Bill Kreutzmann, great groovy Meters bassman George Porter Jr. and hoodoo guitarist Papa Mali have joined together to form 7 Walkers, a rousing fusion of Bay area jam-rock with greasy New Orleans rhythm and blues. Their self-titled debut, issued Nov. 2 on Response Records, bills itself in the liner notes as a love letter [...]

This site’s ties to Louisiana have provided a rich vein of musical delights over the years, but also a moment of staggering loss when Hurricane Katrina swept ashore near New Orleans five years ago today. A legacy of recovery for the city, and the wider Gulf Coast, subsequently found voice in songs from across the spectrum, and helped many sort [...]

by S. Victor Aaron Mother Nature just staged a terrorist act on our ass! –Warren Smith, “Dyes And Lyes” About five years ago, woodwinds and flute specialist Andrew Lamb convened a recording session with his longtime musical partner Warren Smith (drums, percussion) and the bass/cello master Tom Abbs for some free form musical expression. That’s nothing new for longtime practitioners [...]

By Matt Reynolds With the landmark announcement on Wednesday that Simon and Garfunkel will be taking the stage at this years’ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, it finalizes what may be one of the best lineups in the event’s history. Also manning the two weekend jubilee in the Crescent City are stellar acts such as Allman Brothers Band, Dr. [...]

The Meters started out as the largely unknown rhythm section behind some of New Orleans’ most important R&B records, and eventually became, well … a largely unknown recording and touring act. Just why, after listening again to 1974′s “Rejuvenation,” continues to daze and confuse. On-the-one R&B combines with a frisky sense of adventure — the Meters, and Svengali producer Allen [...]

by Nick DeRiso Benny Spellman’s “Fortune Teller,” a witty early-1960s story song, is one of my touchstone party records. Everything about it is perfectly New Orleans, from the pounding piano to this sizzling island-tinged percussion, from a group of yelping, mesmerizingly groovy R&B backup singers to its not one but two gotcha lyrics. Spellman, see, goes to a fortune teller [...]

Irma Thomas, whose Louisiana legend of a voice has darkened into a more expressive place, is taking a similar career tack. The new “Simply Grand,” in fact, finds Thomas moving deeper into the emotional underpinnings of her best work at a time when safer environs would probably be more profitable. That perhaps started with her most recent recording on Rounder, [...]

by Nick Deriso The Blues Foundation announced its 2009 inductees for the Blues Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Lucky us. We already love ‘em: Multiple Grammy Award-winner Taj Mahal; Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans”; as well as late Chicago bluesman Son Seals and the Reverend Gary Davis. Several singles or album tracks are also set to be [...]