Upcoming: Chris Thomas King @ BB King's

New Orleans Guitar Hero & Grammy Award Winner CHRIS THOMAS KING

April 6, 2013

Showtimes @ 8:00PM & 11:00PM

King won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King has sold more than 10 million records in the United States. He is featured playing the part of Tommy Johnson in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen) He is also featured in Down From the Mountain and More Music From Ray soundtracks. As an actor, King has co-starred several films including two musical films, Ray and O Brother Where Art Thou?. He also starred in the Wim Wenders art house film The Soul of a Man, as Blind Willie Johnson and Kill Switch as Detective Storm with Steven Seagal.

Upcoming: Rebirth Brass Band @ Brooklyn Bowl

Rebirth Brass Band Wins a Grammy!

Trombone Shorty, Dr. John, Tremé soundtrack and Wynton Get Grammy Nods

While Eminem, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were some of the bigger names recognized at the Grammy nominations ceremony last night, Louisiana owned the Contemporary Blues Album category. Traditional Louisiana Grammy nominees Lil Wayne, Terence Blanchard and Irma Thomas are on the bench this year, but television gives Louisiana some of its best hopes for Grammy gold.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue continue their remarkable year, being nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Backatown. They’ll be up against the Stanley Clarke Band, Joey DeFrancesco, Jeff Lorber Fusion and John McLaughlin.

Terence Blanchard has owned the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category in recent years, but Wynton Marsalis carries the mantle this year for his performance on “Van Gogh” on Ted Nash’s Portrait in Seven Shades. He’ll be competing with Alan Broadbent, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Hank Jones.

In the Best Contemporary Blues Album, Dr. John and the Lower 911 are once again nominated, this time for Tribal. They’re up against one-time New Orleanian Bettye LaVette’s Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, Lettsworth, Louisiana’s Buddy Guy and his Living Proof album, and Shreveport’s Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band’s Live! In Chicago (with guests Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, long-time Bourbon Street guitarist Bryan Lee and Shreveport’s Buddy Flett). Also nominated is the late Solomon Burke for his Nothing’s Impossible album.

Many of the best-known Cajun and zydeco musicians didn’t record this year, which will make the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album particularly interesting. The nominees are Zydeco Junkie by Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band (who’ll play OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards Friday, January 28), En Couleurs by Feufollet, Happy Go Lucky by D.L. Menard, Back Home by the Pine Leaf Boys and Creole Moon: Live at the Blue Moon Saloon by Cedric Watson et Bijou Créole.

Louisiana got two nods in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, one for the Treme soundtrack and one for True Blood, Vol. 2. They’ll be up against the soundtracks for Crazy Heart, Glee: The Music, Volume 1 and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

In the Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, Steve Earle is nominated for “This City” from the Treme soundtrack. Randy Newman’s nominated for “Down in New Orleans,” which was performed by Dr. John on the soundtrack to Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, and one-time New Orleanian Lucinda Williams’ “Kiss Like Your Kiss” – sung by Williams and Elvis Costello – is nominated from the True Blood, Vol. 2 soundtrack. Also in the category are “I See You” from Avatar and “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart.

For a complete list of nominees, visit Grammy.com.

Buckwheat Zydeco, Terence Blanchard & New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Win Grammys

Buckwheat Zydeco Wins Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album -- Grammys 2010

Buckwheat Zydeco's first studio album post Hurricane Katrina was, by all accounts, a masterpiece. Featuring five original compositions and several other Buckwheat-ified cover songs, 'Lay Your Burden Down' touched a particularly tender nerve with a region and a city seeking renewal, hope--and, most of all, joy. Buckwheat Zydeco's been the hottest zydeco act for a few years now. And with the Grammy award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album, Buckwheat's musical legacy seems to be safer than ever.



Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra won the Grammy for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album for Book One.

Fellow New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard, a Grammy veteran, won a gold Gramophone in the best improvised solo category. He was honored for his work on “Dancin’ 4 Chicken,” a track on drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts’ 2009 album “Watts.”

Lil Wayne, Allen Toussaint & Dirty Dozen Brass Band to perform together @ Grammy Awards

(c/o Times Pic)

During this Sunday's Grammy telecast, Lil Wayne is slated to perform his Hurricane Katrina-themed "Tie My Hands" during a New Orleans segment also featuring Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

The seemingly incongruous mash-up of styles is the result of Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich's desire to keep New Orleans in a national spotlight. Since Hurricane Katrina, Ehrlich has built New Orleans moments into Grammy telecasts.

He often turns to his longtime buddy, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival co-producer Quint Davis, to help put it together.

"Ken Ehrlich is one of the city's true friends," Davis said Thursday from Grammy rehearsals in Los Angeles. "This started where Ken called me and said, 'I have this idea to get Allen with Wayne, what do you think?' That started percolating, then we got the Dozen out here."

According to the script, Wayne will kick off the segment rapping "Tie My Hands," which includes such lyrics as, "My whole city under water, some people still floatin'/and they wonder why black people still voting."

He'll hand off to Toussaint, the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame producer, songwriter and pianist, who will play "Big Chief." The Dirty Dozen will join in and segue into "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" as they parade into the audience and Wayne raps about second-lines.

That the artist with the most Grammy nominations this year happened to be a New Orleans rapper likely made a Katrina segment all the more palatable. "And you've got to give Wayne credit," Davis said. "Wayne had to agree."

NolaGrammy Nominees (c/o Weekly Beat)

MICHAEL DOUCET VS. MICHAEL DOUCET

On Sunday night, the 51st annual Grammy telecast will air and for the second time, the Best Cajun or Zydeco Album award will be given. The nominees this year are all from Louisiana:

BeauSoleil ave Michael Doucet: Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Michael Doucet: From Now On
Pine Leaf Boys: Homage Au Passé
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys: Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Cedric Watson: Cedric Watson

With the inclusion of the MunckMix CDs live from Jazz Fest, that means BeauSoleil's Michael Doucet is competing against himself. Or, for those with betting interests, he has a two out of five chance of taking home a trophy. This year's Best Contemporary Blues Album is also dominated by Louisianans - real and honorary - as Irma Thomas' Simply Grand, Dr. John's City That Care Forgot and Marcia Ball's Peace, Love & BBQ are all nominated. Of course, Lil Wayne leads all nominees, contending in eight categories, but we have connections to numerous nominated artists and recordings. Drummer Doug Belote wrote to remind us that one track on Best Country Instrumental nominee Jerry Douglas' Glide was cut in New Orleans with New Orleans musicians. Songwriter Jim McCormick similarly corrected Alex Rawls' list of Louisiana connections to the Grammy. We knew he had a track on Randy Travis' Best Country Album nominee Around the Bend, but we neglected to mention his track on nominee Trisha Yearwood's Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love. Good luck to everyone up for Grammy or a small piece of one.