Upcoming: Medeski, Mali, Mercurio, & Moore @ le poisson rouge

Let the Jazzfest planning begin...

Wish I was sticking around for this one:

Mardi Gras | 2.12-2.16 | New Orleans

c/o Jambase

By: B. Getz

Mardi Gras :: 02.12-02.16 | :: New Orleans, LA

Trombone Shorty :: Mardi Gras By Dino Perrucci

Descending on New Orleans five days after the Saints' enormous Super Bowl victory, we encountered a city boiling with elation. Despite the frigid temperatures, this city was as hot as ever, with deafening chants of "Who Dat?" reverberating night and day, bouncing off walls of venues, up and down parade routes, at dinner tables and tailgates. I have literally never seen a city so jacked up, and it was as infectious as 'twas intoxicating.

By day we walked various parade routes, first the Krewe of Morpheus and Krewe of Muses, enjoying the Cameltoe Steppers and Miss Karina's Bearded Oysters, amongst others. For most parades we rolled uptown to watch on St. Charles and Napoleon Streets, though Saturday we started in Lakeview, rolling with Krewe of Endymion and feting Saints owner/Grand Marshall Tom Benson and Head Coach Sean Payton like Crescent monarchs, with Trombone Shorty the Grand Marshall's personal guest.

Carnival is truly a cultural and family event. Generations of kin and friends of all races come together and celebrate in magnificent unity; the likes of which I have never seen before. The only moment I ever feared for my own safety was during the Krewe of Bacchus' parade when Drew Brees, Saints quarterback, Super Bowl MVP, and 2010's King Bacchus, turned the corner of St. Charles on a parade float. It was as if Touchdown Jesus had arrived, setting off complete pandemonium.

"WHO DAT! New Orleans is rolling! The City is alive!" cried Brandon Tarricone of Brotherhood of Groove.

As we thawed from the Morpheus/Muses parades Friday night, we strolled to Tipitina's Uptown for the first of four visits to the hallowed room. Thriving in this celebratory atmosphere, George Porter Jr., Leo Nocentelli, Ivan Neville and Raymond Weber (Dumpstaphunk) took the stage to cheers. Henry Butler was then led stage right to a thunderous ovation as the band took their spots, with Butler seated at a keyboard facing Ivan, who was buried beneath an array of keys. They immediately congratulated the Super Bowl Champions to more screaming decibels. Ivan and Leo repeated the salutations throughout the show, a harbinger of "Who Dats?" to come.

Henry Butler :: Mardi Gras/Tip's By Dino Perrucci

Weber and Porter's instant lockstep unveiled opener "Everything is Everything," a crawfish jamboree of distinct NOLA styles, their collaborative spirit evidenced immediately. "Everything" had everything, passing around the jam, with driving Weber funk and George laying down his patented, joyful, nasty bass runs. This song encapsulated their entire performance - equal parts jubilant NOLA sing-along and vicious, loose, powerful funk - serving songs that resonated with joy, pain and the road to redemption. "Cabbage Alley" was a joyful romp through the Professor Longhair classic, with Fess grinning "Hey Now Baby" from the top of the house he built.

Henry Butler asked if he could take us to church, and that he did, with glorious bright piano and charming verve. Butler was distinguished royalty, and that's amongst Porter, Leo, and Ivan, all stalwarts in their own right. The blind man stoked several raging Nocentelli screaming solos drenched in tubed-out distortion and Gibsonics. Porter and Weber responded with tight riddims and big wrap around fills swollen with laughter.

Ivan Neville's charged "Fortunate Son" oozed Bayou and sparked some fantastic interplay between Ivan and Porter, plus more ragin' Leo licks. This exhilaration was a theme for two full sets of huge smiles, jams and Crescent City spirit. "Talkin' 'Bout New Orleans" was just that - the pulse of a city ablaze. It's Carnival Time!

For three consecutive nights we stumbled out of Tip's and made our way down to the Blue Nile for the Backbeat Foundation's 4th Annual Mardi Gras Funkstravaganza, a series of Royal Family hosted hoedowns lasting well into the wee hours, in true Quarter style. New York and NOLA are sister cities, and the likes of Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno and Nigel Hall would make their presence known at this Lombardi Gras, and of course, be joined by their NOLA forefathers all weekend long.

Khris Royal, Kraz, Deitch, Hall :: Royal Family By Amanda Barry

Friday late night, Dr. Claw featured a malevolent conglomerate of Deitch, Kraz, Nigel, and locals Ian Neville on guitar and the inimitable Nick Daniels on bass and vocals. "God Made Me Funky" was an aggressive jolt of stutter-step bounce and friendly one-upmanship. A reading of R&B staple "Leave Me Alone" displayed soothing vocals from Hall and Daniels, while Kraz wailed away on a gold guitar emblazoned with the Saints' fleur de lis. A Daniels propelled cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" was a bludgeoning stomp of lead-bass, wailing Kraz, and sordid drumming; this colossal rendition most displayed the group's shared kinetic energy. Ivan Neville hustled down from Tip's to join the aural fracas, with Raymond Weber and Papa Mali checking it out from the crowd.

On Saturday, the Nigel Hall Band (featuring George Porter Jr.) was geared to a more R&B feel. Krasno played bass before George's arrival as Hall crooned with joie de vivre. A deep Rhodes take on James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend" punctuated the early part of the set until Deitch commandeered the ship, directing Porter into murderous funk grooves. This was "Meters take Manhattan" on some crunk shit. Sheer delight shone on the faces of the elder statesman and boy wonder, as they played puppet-master to one another's nastiness amidst carnival sights and sounds.

Porter & Krasno by Dino Perrucci

In true "only in New Orleans" fashion, long after the band had left the stage there were still 25 or so fans hanging around the Nile. As Jill Scott's "Is it the Way" pumped through the PA, one by one the musicians returned to the stage, first Hall on bass with Krasno soon taking it from him. Hall shifted to keys as Deitch got behind the kit, and they moved from playing along to the record to some live improv. An elongated vamp morphed to a full-band version of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," a boundless crunk-a-thon with seven different musicians rotating around the stage, including sax and keys maven Khris Royal, guitarist Andrew Block and local sax man Clarence "Trixzey" Slaughter. The half-hour workout was NOLA indulgence, almost a private show for the Royal Family Frenchman Street faithful.

Sunday evening at the Nile was billed as Eric Krasno & Chapter 2, the Soulive guitarist's red-hot side project; which this time featured Porter in the mix. Several cuts from Kraz's forthcoming solo album - "76," "Be Alright" and "Too Sweet" - joined stormy covers including a rare-groove styled rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" and an aggressive take on Jimi's "Manic Depression."

Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers may have opened the 4th Annual Bacchus Blowout, but this was no warm-up act. Fellow Treme second-line prodigal son Ruffins absolutely owned this packed-to-the-gills room from jump. "How 'bout them New Or-lee-anz Saints!!" he greeted the roaring post-parade massive and led everyone into a jubilant "All Mardi Gras Day." The audience upped the ante, as the obligatory "Saints Come Marching In" gave way to a bedlam-inducing take on the omnipresent Saints anthem by local rapper K. Gates, "Black N Gold New Orleans," which was the theme song to the entire city - you couldn't go three blocks without hearing a brass band, car stereo or house party system blaring it. When Kermit and Co. dropped it, the frontman's lazy, gruff Treme drawl steeped in bliss, Tip's fucking exploded.

Kermit Ruffins :: Bacchus Blowout By Dino Perrucci

Ever the showman, after a few healthy pulls from a Bud Light and some humorous banter, Ruffins quickly reminded us that it was Valentine's Day as he delivered maybe The evening's finest performance, a surreal take on the Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets." The swanky love-fest gave way to an appearance by Corey "Boe Money" Henry, a run through The Roots' "U Got Me," Frankie Beverly and MAZE's "Joy and Pain" and more NOLA-fried second-line flavor.

After a lengthy changeover, the legendary Rebirth Brass Band delivered an enjoyable set of Crescent City ecstasy; cramped audience skanking and brass n' drums thumping along. "Boe Money," Derek Shezbie (trumpet) and Vincent Broussard (sax) led the troupe through an hour of bulbous brass anthems.

However, when headliner Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue took the stage just after 1 a.m., the energy levels in the room rose to even more raucous levels. Troy Andrews' meteoric rise from child trombone prodigy and member of Rebirth to feted second-liner and member of Lenny Kravitz's touring band to leading his own band is a true American dream. Hailing from the Treme, he has a long awaited album dropping soon and a reputation for superior showmanship. Leading a crack-band of childhood friends, including "Freaky" Pete Murano on guitar and Joey "In and Out" Peebles on drums, Shorty displayed a pomp 'n' verve that kept the room at full attention.

Andrews gave Kravitz a "le bon temps" lesson in crunkadelic rock with his reworking of The Guess Who's "American Woman," a pulsating banger with crunchy guitars and clobbering funk percussion. "Get Down" and "Orleans & Claiborne" were enigmatic doses of ridiculous second-line melodies and festive beats. "St. James Orleans Avenue" really took it to the Treme, and the new vibes took the crowd to "Backatown." He led the boys through a medley that mixed hometown rapper Mystikal, the Black Eyed Peas, Sly Stone and the Violent Femmes. Crooning for the ladies, Shorty channeled Al Green and Marvin Gaye, and blew surreal trumpet runs between patented trombone romps that mesmerized the cuties.

Robert Mercurio - Galactic Lundi Gras at Tip's by Bob Compton/CapturedLight.com

Galactic hosted two shows at Tipitina's Uptown, the first on Saturday and then Monday night's traditional Lundi Gras sunrise throw-down, each with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe supporting.

The first show saw a short set of primarily new material from KDTU, highlighted by an incredible collaboration ("Baker's Dozen") between Denson, KDTU guitarist (and birthday boy) Brian Jordan and Galactic. The headliners threw down a show heavy on material from their newest record, Ya-Ka-May (JamBase review).

The annual Lundi Gras show was one to remember. Beginning with a fierce 90-minute set of firing KDTU, Diesel & Co. delivered the seminal "Ruff, Tuff and Tumble" and sultry "The Answer," then closed with an ethereal version of "S&G," a funk barnstormer that segued into evocative R&B. Galactic then hijacked their stage back and proceeded to uncork a colossal, three-set performance that went until 7 a.m. Culling from their now-vast catalogue of genre-bending compositions, the funk got deep and dark as the crowd bathed in their patented crunk gumbo, with "Boe Money" ably assisting throughout. Mixing in covers from Rakim to Zeppelin and featuring cameos from John Gros, Denson, Trixzey Slaughter, Cyril Neville and more, this was a gluttonously N'awlinz rager. Stanton Moore's punishing drums stoked the patented swamp-funk rumble, and bassist Robert Mercurio, guitarist Jeff Raines and sax/harp man Ben Ellman channeled the "Who dat?" mayhem into feverish pitches. Staggering out of Tip's alongside the band, crew, staff and revelers bound for the 8 a.m. Zulu parade was a surreal experience, even for the Crescent City.

Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs by Jessica Dore

The musical portion of the Mardi Gras program is often overlooked by outsiders who see Carnival as a season of consumer excess with heaps of plastic beads, rivers of "Big Ass Beers" and boobs running the sleazy course of Bourbon Street. Beyond the celestial floats, bejeweled krewe members and mansion-lined avenues, a simpler Carnival culture flourishes in New Orleans' neighborhoods. Seeking some truer roots and humbler hometown carnival essence, we looked for those marching betwixt the pricey floats and royalty costumes, i.e. the public school marching bands that rounded the corner of St. Charles and Josephine with the Zulu Parade on Tuesday morning. New Orleans' uniformed youths marched beautifully through the route and it was clear this is ground zero, the place where the seeds of Jazz Fest, Jam Cruise and summer festivals are sewn. This is the path that the likes of Big Sam, Trombone Shorty and all the Rebirth Brass Band took during their school years in this city.

The spirit of New Orleans' carnival music is caught not with a $30 ticket to Tip's or Howlin' Wolf, but for free out in front Handa Wanda's bar room at 2nd and Dryades Streets on Mardi Gras Day. Tucked within Central City, this is the Mardi Gras of legends like Professor Longhair, James Booker and the Nevilles.

Post-Zulu, around 1 p.m., we went to check and pay respect to the Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs, strutting in their suits to drum circle beats with family, friends and plates of barbeque. This year, as they do each year, the Indians donned the fruits of each year's labor: Hand sewn suits and headdresses, some weighing more than fifty pounds with feathers, fabrics and intricate beadwork illustrations. There, in a crowd of mostly city locals, we enjoyed the peak of the day - some no-frills booty shaking among neighborhood royalty.

Additional reporting by Jessica Dore

Papa Mali's Supernatural Ball | 02.10 | NOLA

c/o Jambase

Words & Images by: Jeffrey P. Dupuis

Papa Mali :: 02.10 :: New Orleans

Living in a place like New Orleans, the past is not really the past. The musical influence of people like Louis Armstrong and Professor Longhair is as palpable as the humidity. People talk about 'Fess as if he just played last week; The Meters aren't seen as an historical reference in NOLA funk, but as one of the building blocks of the NOLA vibe. For better or worse, the present is just an extension of our past that happens to be going on today. I get very excited when something reaches out from someone else's past to resonate strongly in the now. This was one of those nights when musical history reached out and smacked me on the back of the head, as if to say, "You need to know about this, sucka."

For his annual "Supernatural Ball" Papa Mali (guitar, vocals) tapped George Porter Jr. (bass, vocals), Nigel Hall (keys, vocals) and Adam Deitch (drums) to be the house band (Eric Krasno was snowed-in). I cannot say enough about the energy and excitement that Deitch and Hall have been bringing into their collaborations with NOLA musicians. The night was billed as a musical exploration of Donny Hathaway's Live and Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys.

Walking into Tipitina's is like walking into a small neighborhood bar where you know everyone, only it's not that small and happens to be one of the most revered music clubs in the world - with good reason. I like to tell people that I got my education in college but my real schooling occurred at Tip's.

On this night I was greeted by the sounds of solo piano pouring off the stage. With no billing, I inquired as to who was playing and found out that it was Josh Charles, a New York pianist, who held his own through original material as well as great covers of Professor Longhair, whose visage hangs in tribute over the stage. DJ and sax mash up Jermaine Quiz Entourage kept the party rolling through set change. The Soul Rebels Brass Band followed and were able to work the light crowd into a heated dance party, though more and more people joined as the night progressed. The band is in rare form these days, following the recording of a new album that seems to have energized them.

Papa Mali's Supernatural Ball :: 02.10 :: New Orleans

Moving on to the main event, I will publicly admit my ignorance of Hathaway's influence, so when I started digging I was amazed at the connections. Like being brought to bluegrass many years ago through Garcia's Old & In The Way, the band's musical journey pushed me to dig deeper into Hathaway after the show. And isn't that the point in some ways? Throughout the first set, Nigel Hall's soulful voice led the exploration though selections from Hathaway's Live album. Joined at times by the Dirty Dozen's Efrem Towns on trumpet, highlights included a wonderful version of "The Ghetto," a crowd-riling "You've Got a Friend" and a beautiful duet with George Porter Jr. on "Jealous Guy." A funkified "Everything Is Everything" closed the set.

Drinking my way through college as a guitarist, I was well aware of Hendrix's Band of Gypsys and was curious how the band would handle the material. Papa Mali's soulful guitar playing would be more-than-able to carry the lead lines, but that would have been too easy. Rather than make the second set a single-guitar fest, the band rotated in guest guitarists from NOLA, with Billy Iuso, Andrew Block and Matt Grondin each providing a different voice to the mix. In addition, a powerful horn section drove the tunes into new directions. The horn filled interpretations pushed boundaries and visited new spaces I never imagined with Hendrix.

Following the Hendrix selections, the band slipped into a few NOLA standards, including "Welcome to New Orleans," to round out the evening. Filled with both local and traveling music fanatics from all corners in for Mardi Gras, the Supernatural Ball will most likely be judged as one of the best sleeper shows of this Mardi Gras season.

Deitch, Hall, Porter Jr., Mali

Adam Deitch

Adam Deitch

Nigel Hall

Nigel Hall

Nigel Hall & George Porter Jr.

Ed Lee - Soul Rebels Brass Band

Maurice Brown

Marcus Hubbard - Soul Rebels Brass Band

George Porter Jr.

George Porter Jr.

Soul Rebels Brass Band

Soul Rebels Brass Band

Papa Mali

NolaFunk Lagniappe

The Mother-in-Law’s Mother

Early Mardi Gras morning, Antoinette K-Doe passed away after a heart attack. Since editor Alex Rawls wrote about Antoinette and the Mother-in-Law Lounge in our January issue, we felt we’d already said much of what we wanted to say about her. Last issue, she spoke for herself, talking about cooking and being neighborly, so we decided to let some of the people who were touched by Antoinette share their recollections. We’ll miss her.—ED

The Wild Magnolias' Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux reunite, however briefly

Keith Spera / The Times-Picayune

Saturday's reunion of Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux at the Mid-City Lanes said as much about the future of the Wild Magnolias as the past.

Friends since childhood, Boudreaux and Dollis grew up to lead rival Mardi Gras Indian "gangs." They joined forces to front the Wild Magnolias electric funk band, whose 1974 debut introduced Mardi Gras Indian music to the world. On the likes of "Handa Wanda" and "Smoke My Peace Pipe," Boudreaux's more traditional chants offset Dollis' glorious rasp.

Whoa, that’s a lot of Bo

On a decidely more upbeat note, friend of no notes Mr. Fine Wine turns over an entire one-hour episode of his Downtown Soulville show to the music of the recently departed New Orleans legend Eddie Bo. Check it out here.

Nick Spitzer interview with Eddie from November 2nd, 2005

Listen HERE.

Playing for Change

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music". This film features many New Orleans artists including Grandpa Elliot, Washboard Chaz and my dear friend Roberto Luti (who's featured on the Heaven She Rides album by Sol Fiya). Be sure to check out the Playing For Change foundation and please show them some love.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.



The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will receive the Big Easy Foundation's Music Heritage Award

Even if the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is not doing anything special to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first release, My Feet Can't Fail Me Now, the album still marks some of the elements that have propelled the band through more than three decades together: dedication to practice and trying new things.

  "In the beginning, we came together to learn music," Gregory Davis says. "There weren't any gigs. They were rehearsals."

  The group included Roger Lewis and Charles Joseph, who were students at Southern University. Joseph brought his younger brother Kirk to play sousaphone. Davis was a student at St. Augustine High School. Drummer Benny Jones was in a band and had some connections to get gigs with social aid and pleasure clubs. The members agreed to work on any type of music.

LADIES AND MEN OF UNITY 2ND ANNUAL SECOND LINE PARADE

SINGLE MEN SOCIAL AID & PLEASURE CLUB SECOND LINE PARADE

Listen up: Preview track from Marcus Roberts' "New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1"

With "New Orleans Meets Harlem," pianist Marcus Roberts explores the connections between two of jazz music's most elemental tributaries -- building on familiar ideas put in place by Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The record, Roberts' first in eight years, hits the streets on Tuesday, March 31, and features bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis. Good news: Keen and welcome touches of modernity keep this J-Master Records release from gathering the expected dust.

Papa Mali brings funky Louisiana jams: Q&A

Voodoo blues man Papa Mali grew up in rural Louisiana where he soaked in everything from hill country guitar to the nearby Big Easy brass. He paid his dues in the clubs of New Orleans for more than two decades, but now the diversely skilled guitarist, whose real name is Malcolm Welbourne, tours around the country with his original brand of psychedelic Crescent City-inspired funk, mixing it up regularly in the world of jam and jazz. His latest album, 2007's “Do Your Thing,” was produced by Dan Prothero for Fog City Records and features collaborations with Kirk Joseph, Henry Butler, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Victoria Williams and JJ Grey.

Question: What types of music did you learn growing up in Louisiana?

Answer: From a pretty early age I was steeped in real Delta blues, soul and funk. There's two different schools in that type of music: the guys who grew up on a plantation in Mississippi, and then there are guys like me who are more like musicologists, honest about where they come from. Dr. John is one of my biggest heroes. At an early age he got over the whole trauma of race and color barriers that a lot of musicians go through. I was the same way. As a teenager I was playing with some cats that were the real deal, and they accepted me. They let me know that it was all about the music, and if you're sincere in the way that you portray it, you will be accepted. That's helped me to know my place in how I want to carry the music forward.

Joan Selects, Volume 18 – Joan’s New Orleans Jazz Fest Special

It is one of those unintended confluences that Joan Selects, Volume 18 - Joan's Jazz Fest Special appears just several weeks from the start of the 40th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival: www.nojazzfest.com. You can thank your blog host for the great timing for this post.

All the music in Joan Selects - Volume 18, emanates from the musical gold-mine that is New Orleans. In fact most all the selections here-in presented were recorded at the legendary J & M recording studios under the astute and gifted direction of Cosimo Matassa.

DOWNLOAD THE MIX HERE

The Tio Family: A New Orleans Clarinet Dynasty

Almost everyone who plays jazz clarinet in a classic style can trace their musical lineage back to the Tio family, a dynasty of clarinet masters from New Orleans¹ Creole seventh ward. In the early 1900s, they taught the first generation of jazz players the value of using classical techniques. Evan Christopher continues the legacy.

The Tio family was a dynasty of clarinet masters from New Orleans' Creole seventh ward. In the early days of the 20th century, they taught a first generation of jazz players the value of using classical techniques in their playing. The Tios were all professional musicians on the active New Orleans music scene where they worked as composers, arrangers, and conductors in brass bands, theater orchestras and 'society' dance bands. But most importantly, every afternoon there would be a steady stream of music students through their homes.

New Orleans Jazz All-Stars 2009: Our 20th Class

Ideal vision, we are told, is 20-20 and as we present our 20th class of Jazz-All Stars we see two decades of greatness and a talent pool that hasn’t been diminished. As always we present our All-Stars as two complete but non-existent bands – one traditional, the other contemporary. Selections are based from among those performers who continue to live and work mostly in this area. It is great to see such a promising list, and even better to hear.

Musicians, Jackson Square, New Orleans

New Orleans Gets Its Brews Back

The history of brewing in New Orleans is as cloudy as an unfiltered ale, little known outside its confines. Once a regional beer capital, it turned out a slew of popular brands like Falstaff, Jax, Regal and Dixie.

Now there are only a handful of breweries in the area, including Abita, Heiner Brau and a newcomer named NOLA Brewing Company. The good news is that over a well-hopped weekend you can sample all the local brews, tour their birthplaces and learn the story of the once — and possibly future — beer town of the South. The local brewing scene is concentrated these days in suburban St. Tammany Parish, on the north shore of the vast Lake Pontchartrain opposite the Big Easy. So that’s where I headed one morning, with an old college buddy along as designated driver, flitting over the brown lake like a water spider on the seemingly endless causeway.

Playlist: WWOZ is the shit.

As a city that treasures its musical heritage, New Orleans is probably second only to Nashville.

I’ve been listening to WWOZ in recent weeks. WWOZ is a free- form community radio station that’s become a linchpin of the New Orleans music scene.

WWOZ rocks ass. Below are just a few recordings to which I’ve been introduced by ’OZ’s dedicated volunteer deejays. Click the track titles to listen on my Vox blog.

Eddie Bo & The Soulfinders “The Hook & Sling”

French Quarter Festival Who’s Who

By David Kunian and Alex Rawls

There’s a lot going on during the French Quarter Festival, and it takes a big brain to keep track of it all. OffBeat wants you to be that big brain, so here’s our guide to all the jazz, blues, Cajun, zydeco, funk, soul and rock ’n’ roll that takes place on 17 stages arranged in the French Quarter between Bourbon Street and the Mississippi River. Pay attention—there will be a quiz.

There and Back Again: An Interview with the subdudes' John Magnie

Most bands would be envious of the subdudes’ lot in life. After all, many struggle and fail in their bids to reach the top of the mountain once, let alone twice. Although the subdudes suffered an acrimonious breakup that lasted for six years, the group has spent its time, since its reunion in 2002, re-establishing itself within a marketplace that has grown considerably more crowded. Its latest set Live at the Rams’ Head combined with its complementary documentary Unplugged at Pleasant Plains couldn’t have been issued at a better time, either.

Gulf Coast Highway reviewed by Steve Jones

Gulf Coast Highway
Eric Lindell
Alligator Records
http://www.ericlindell.com/
http://www.alligator.com/
15 tracks

I first listened to this CD on a Sunday morning. It was quite early, and I had just gone to a hockey game the night before, so the sport was still on my mind. As the CDs first track opened up, it immediately got me thinking about partying. I quipped to myself, “I went to a party and an Eric Lindell concert broke out,” and it hit me; I’ve bent the joking phrase, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out,” around, but it fits so nicely. Seeing Eric live or even listening to him on a CD makes you feel like having you’re having a party.