Etta James at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2006

Shannon McNally at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

The video from today featuring Shannon is from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and it is a song from the talented and fabled Mr. Bobby Charles. A few years previous at a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival they had a show called "Bobby Charles and Friends" and was supposed to feature the reclusive singer Bobby Charles with a host of other singers. Unfortunately Mr. Charles lived up to his reputation as being reclusive and didn't show. But Sonny Landreth, Dr. John, Shannon McNally and others did. These pictures are from that show.

Shannon McNally at Jazz Fest 2007

Video Wednesday

I know we featured this as a Song of the Day not that long ago, but we are so in love with Amanda Shaw and "Good Southern Girl" from her new album of the same name we're going to showcase her appearance at the Jazz and Heritage Fest doing the song today.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today we feature Susan Cowsill and "Just Believe It" from he 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage show.

French Quarter Fest: John Boutte

I should know by now that I am going to be amazed at a John Boutte show.  Everytime I have seen him live he pulls some song out that just leaves my mouth hanging open with the sheer artistry of it.  The first time I ever saw him, not really being that familiar with him I was literally blown away by his version of "City of New Orleans."  That was always a song I loved by Arlo Gutherie but after hearing John Boutte sing it live that song now belonged to him.  In fact I was so taken with that song by him I made it my phone ringer.  Than at a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Show he did a version of Paul Simon's "American Tune" with just Paul Sanchez on guitar that again left me speechless.

Today's show was supposed to be another of Paul Sanchez's Rolling Road shows.  Paul acts as the ringleader for these shows, but he always brings a lot of guest musicians.  John Boutte was one of those that was supposed to appear with Paul today.  Unfortunately Paul was too sick to attend, so the show fell on John Boutte's shoulders.  You could tell that he wasn't prepared for this to be a solo Boutte show.  The musicians and he weren't on the same page of what songs they were supposed to play.  They braved their way through it, with a lot of long pauses between songs while they conferred on what to do next.  Up to that point I was enjoying the show, but it was really nothing spectacular.  Honestly they were taking too long inbetween songs when they only had ninety minutes to do their show.

Than John let the other musicians take a break and he did an Acapella version of Lennon/McCartney's "Blackbird."   Again he was creating art as he sang.  The band came back and he brought one of his sisters out to sing.  She did a couple songs and proved that talent did indeed run in the Boutte family.  Than again the band left and he did "American Tune" with no instruments but his voice.  Again he has taken a song best known by another and made it his own.

Than he did something I thought almost impossible.  He sat down at the piano and began the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah."  Now once upon a time I liked this song, but over the last year or so you can't escape it, especially Jeff Buckley's version of it.  Every TV show has to feature it at some point.  Truthfully I've grown tired of the song.  But as John played at the piano and sang I heard the wizardy in this song again.  As he sang Susan Cowsill came out with John's sister and they started providing harmony.  This song took on a new life.  I could only wish that these shows were taped like at the Jazz Fest, but regrettably are not.

Afterwards the band came back and they finished with a few more numbers.  It's shows like this that help me realize why I love music so much.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today's song is from Mary Lasseigne (who used to go by the name Mary LaSang) singing "Rebeca Sunshine."  This version was done from last year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with Paul Sanchez and his Rolling Road Show.  After being parts of numerous bands over the years Mary is finally releasing a solo album this month called Mary Jane and the Brain Surgeon.  Mary is another local favorite and I am really excited about the fact of her new solo album and can't wait to hear it.  You'll hear more here the next few weeks.

Marva Wright 1938-2010

On March 23 Marva Wright died at 6:00 am.   I first saw Marva at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.  I was familiar with her name, in New Orleans she is known as the Blues Queen, but had not really listened to any of her music.  Within minutes of her introduction I was a fan.  Ms. Wright knew how to sing and she really knew how to sing the blues.  It might seem a contradiction but Marva brought a wonderous joy to her singing of the blues.  From the audience I could feel how much fun she was having on the stage.  You couldn't watch her sing and not be moved.

Marva Wright came to music late in life.  She was almost 40 before she turned her love of music into a career.  Starting out as a way to help make ends meet for her family she soon found herself touring the world with her voice.  Like many blues singers Marva's first songs were delivered in the church.   She was content to lend her voice to the choir until she went looking for a second job and found herself singing in the clubs on Bourbon Street.

Late last year Marva suffered two strokes.  Unfortunately she never recovered and Tuesday last week her body finally gave up its fight.  Marva was 62 years old.  It may be a cliche, but though she may be dead Marva will live on in her music.

Video Wednesday:

This week's video is a native of Louisiana and a favorite of this site.  She's a regular at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.  Amanda Shaw and the title song from her most recent album "Pretty Runs Out."

SPOTLIGHT: The Chilluns

New Orleans has long had a tradition of musical families, the Nevilles and the Marsalis being the prime examples.  But a band I caught at last year's Jazz Fest follows that legacy.  Honestly I thought the band was more or less a one time chance for some musical family members to get together and play some great tunes, but here we are almost a year later and the group is playing Tipitina's this Friday night.  All the members have day jobs, so to speak, in other musical acts, but it's nice to see them continuing on in this form.

                                                                              The group is called The Chilluns and its members come from three New Orleans' musical families, from both generations.  The groups consists of the musical Fathers and their musical offspring.  The Fathers are Dave Malone, Spencer Bohren and Cranston Clements.  The offspring are Johnny Malone, DarcyMalone, Andre Bohren and Annie Clements.

Dave Malone is a founding member of one of New Orlean's best loved bands, The Radiators.  As a group they have recorded over a dozen albums and tour constantly.

Spencer Bohren has recorded over a dozen albums under his own name and many more with other artists.  He has performed on A Paririe Home Companion and teaches.

Cranston Clements is another long time guitarist that has played with many other musicians such as Maria Muldar and Irma Thomas.                                                                 

Even though all the 'kids' sing in the group, Johnny Malone is more of the front man and handles the majority of the singing chores, sharing them with his sister Darcy and handing off some songs to Annie Clements.

Darcy sings in a local band called The Tangles with her husband.  She has sung with the Radiators, The Pfister Sisters, Theresa Andersson and others.

Andre Bohren is the drummer in the group, which he also does for the group Johnny Sketch and the Dirty 

Notes.

The final member of the band is Annie Clements.  Currently Annie is a member of the country group Sugarland and tours with them.

The group does mostly covers of British invasion hits and songs from Motown, but throws in some songs from the various members.

This is a group that the members come together for the fun and joy of it and the audience can tell.  Where they go with it from here, if they even want to do more than just get together irregularly and play is up to them.  With this much talent in one group they could produce some really amazing music on their own if they wanted to.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today's song is from the amazing gifted Marcia Ball and her 2007 show at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She sings Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927."

SONG OF THE DAY

We present Alexa Ray Joel today with her cover of Neil Young's song "Don't Let It Bring You Down" from her ep Sketches. I saw Alexa a couple years ago at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and she was amazing. Why she doesn't have a full length album out by now I have no idea, she should be busy releasing an album every year.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today we feature New Orlean's Paul Sanchez and "Exit To Mystery" from his live show at last year's year New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

SONG OF THE DAY

Sometimes you get lucky and discover an artist that just overwhelms you. At a Jazz Fest a few years ago I was in the audience for a show by a group called the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I had read a little about them in New Depression but really didn't know what to expect. I was blown away. I couldn't believe how good this group was. So today's song is from their album Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind. The song is "Sourwood Mountain."

SONG OF THE DAY

Once more we enter the way-back machine and travel to the year 2005 and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival where we hear the Radiators do "Go Down, Hannah."

SONG OF THE WEEK

When I first heard this performance I was literally blown away. Every now and than you hear something live that just reaches out and grabs ahold of you and moves you. That's what the best music does. And that's what this song did. It was at the recent New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The singer was John Boutte and he was accompanied only by Paul Sanchez on guitar. John is a singer in the tradition of Sam Cooke and can take a song from another writer and make it uniquely his own. That's what he did with this song, "American Tune" by Paul Simon. And Paul's playing is gorgeous.

Related articles by Zemanta

• From Shaky Start to Enduring Tradition (nytimes.com)
• Pete Seeger inspires generations at Jazz Fest (cnn.com)
• Bon Jovi, Kings of Leon and Neil Young Bring New Orleans Jazz Fest to Ecelctic End (idiomag.com)
• Kermit Ruffins: Shake and Bake (jambase.com)

Jazz Fest: Patty Griffin

Patty Griffin is an acclaimed singer/songwriter that gave one of the best performances of Jazz Fest. She's probably better known for some of her songs that other more famous people have covered. Dixie Chicks covered "Top of the World." Kelly Clarkson did "The Mountain" on one of those American Idol specials a few years back. I was surprised by the core group of her fans that were there. There was quite a group of people that knew her every song. It was a great show.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kelly Clarkson Reveals Her Most Personal Song (idiomag.com)
• a set of pictures from New Orleans Jazz Fest 2009 (brooklynvegan.com)