Main Stage: Friday, June 25, 2010

Terrance Simien (Zydeco) Main Stage: Friday, June 25; 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm:  For more than 2 decades Grammy award winning artist Terrance Simien, 8th generation Louisiana Creole has been shattering the myths about what his indigenous Creole Zydeco music is and is not. Leading his Zydeco Experience Band, Simien has become one of the most respected and internationally recognized touring and recording artists in roots music today. He has performed over 5000 concerts, toured millions of miles to over 40 countries and reached at least a million people during his eventful 25 year career. Simien is blessed with an extraordinary talent that expresses the deepest human emotions through the original instrument: The Voice. His eclectic fusion of Zydeco takes you on a multicultural musical tour of the world. Incorporating diverse music styles he creates a hypnotic blend of Zydeco-roots-New Orleans funk-reggae-flavored-Afro-Caribbean-world music that will force you out of your seat and onto the dance floor. He has found a way to express himself as a relevant and evolving artist who remains reverent to his roots and musical legacy. His live performances have garnered him a level of international success and his fully engaged audiences around the globe have become more Zydeco Experienced than ever before!

  Buckwheat Zydeco  (Zydeco) Main Stage: Friday, June 25; 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm: American musical legend Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr.-along with his band, Buckwheat Zydeco-is the preeminent ambassador of Louisiana zydeco music. 2009 marked Buckwheat Zydeco's 30th anniversary, and Buckwheat celebrated with the release of his new CD (and Alligator Records debut), Lay Your Burden Down. The New York Times said, "Stanley ‘Buckwheat' Dural leads one of the best bands in America. A down-home and high-powered celebration, meaty and muscular with a fine-tuned sense of dynamics ...propulsive rhythms, incendiary performances." The Louisiana vocalist, accordion and organ master recorded his new CD at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana with Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) producing, as well as leading the horn section.

 

Main Stage: Saturday, June 26, 2010 

C.J. Chenier & Red Hot Louisiana Band (Zydeco) Main Stage: Saturday, June 26; 3:45 pm - 5:00 pm: C.J. Chenier was literally born into the musical tradition of southwest Louisiana and Texas Zydeco, a chugging, accordion-led blend of French Creole and African-derived influences. Born the son of great Zydeco king Clifton Chenier, the first Grammy Award winning musician of his genre, C.J. was totally immersed in R&B, funk and jazz from childhood. Despite his family ties, or maybe because of them, C.J. wasn't terribly interested in his father's music as a teenager. A natural player, C.J. won a scholarship to study music at Texas Southern University and spent his college years exploring his own musical style. Coming into adulthood, C.J.'s interest in the music of his ancestors grew and after college graduation he joined his father's legendary Red Hot Louisiana Band on the road. After his father's death in 1987, C.J. assumed leadership of the band. While he continued to develop his personal accordion style, C.J. also gradually began grafting on influences from his boyhood. As C.J. explains, "I play it the way I play it. All my father really told me was to do the best I could do with my own style." Aside from performing and recording with his own ensemble, C.J. has worked with an impressive array of collaborators, including Paul Simon and The Gin Blossoms. A self-described "road dog", C.J. will be touring extensively in North America and Europe in 2007.   

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (Rock/Soul/Funk) Main Stage: Saturday, June 26; 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm:Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews' new album, Backatown (Verve Forecast April 20), is the work of a rare artist who can draw both the unqualified respect of jazz legends and deliver a high-energy rock show capable of mesmerizing international rock stars and audiences alike. With such an unprecedented mix of rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul, he had to create his own name to describe his signature sound: Supafunkrock! Andrews is the kind of player who comes along maybe once in a generation, and Backatown is the latest, clearest proof that his artistry is as singular as his raw talent.  The album title comes from the locals' term for the area of New Orleans that includes the Tremé [pronounced Tre-MAY] neighborhood in the city's 6th Ward, where Troy was born and raised - getting his nickname at four years old when he was observed by his older brother James marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice as long as the kid was high. The cultural backdrop of the Tremé - the oldest black neighborhood in the U.S. - is at the very root of Troy's music, on top of which he's built his own sound. The streetwise, gritty feel of the term underscores the difference between the stereotype of the New Orleans jazz musician and what this audacious young artist and his cohorts are going for, and pulling off.

 

Nevillution: Main Stage: Saturday, June 26; 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm: NEVILLUTION A Multi-Generational Celebration of Neville Music & New Orleans Culture With Neville Family, Friends and Special Guests. Cyril neville and Tribe 13, Charmaine, Charles, Damion, Omari Neville with special guests The Wild Tchoupitoulas and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.

Main Stage: Sunday, June 27, 2010

 Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers (Zydeco) Main Stage: Sunday, June 27; 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers are living up to their reputation as the most innovative and musically accomplished young zydeco band on the scene today. Lil Brians latest release, Funky Nation, is the bands boldest statement yet that zydeco can be a cutting edge sound as vital to a new generation of fans as it has been for longtime buffs. Significantly, it also represents the first time Stanley Buckwheat Duralof the genres top band, Buckwheat Zydecohas produced another artist. And Funky Nation is the first album by another artist to be released on Durals own record label, Tomorrow Recordings. We believe in Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers, says Dural, and we think Funky Nation will make a believer out of people all over America, too. There is no limit to Lil Brians future. He can take zydeco to another level. The undisputed capitol of Lil Brian Terrys Funky Nation, is the hamlet of Barrett Station, TexasB.S.T. to those in the know. This unprepossessing, well kept, Texas crossroads, just outside Baytown and not far from H-Town (Houston), is smack dab in the middle of East Texas zydeco country. the Creole people of this part of the country, most with strong Louisiana roots, are at least as ardent about zydeco as their neighbors across the border in Louisiana. The clubs, festivals and radio there pulse with zydeco rhythms both traditional and new, enjoyed by young and old. In this milieu, for the past decade and more, Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers have developed a reputation as the most innovative and musically accomplished zydeco band on the scene. 

 BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet (Cajun) Main Stage: Sunday, June 27; 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm: BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet Since forming in 1975, Grammy winners BeauSoleil have claimed their undisputed role as the most esteemed Cajun group in music. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe. From The Grand Ole Opry to Newport Folk, from concert hall to dance floor, the music of BeauSoleil continues to captivate audiences the world over.

 

 

 Allen Toussaint (R&B) Main Stage: Sunday, June 27; 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm: 71 year-old composer, producer, pianist and singer Allen Toussaint can, without hesitation, be called a living legend; his work as composer, producer, arranger and performer, especially in the 60s and 70s, helped shape the sound of R&B, soul, and funk as we know it today, bringing an easy-going charm and humor to his repertoire, along with seductive, percolating rhythms indigenous to New Orleans, the city he has always called home. He's collaborated memorably with artists ranging from Lee Dorsey and Ernie K. Doe to the Pointer Sisters and Labelle, from the Meters and Dr. John to the Band and Paul McCartney. On The Bright Mississippi, Toussaint looks past his own legacy. He reinterprets the songs of his forebears, the jazz greats who, in the early 20th century, built the genre from the ground up and turned the ears of the world to New Orleans. Backed by an all-star combo that sounds like a group of old friends, Toussaint reinterprets classic jazz and blues tunes popularized or written by such native sons as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, and Joe "King" Oliver, as well as pieces composed by such fellow travelers as Django Rheinhardt, Duke Ellington, and even Thelonious Monk

Missing Kidney Bar Stage

Eric Lindell Band:  Missing Kidney Bar: Bayou Ball; Thursday, June 24; 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm & Saturday, June 26; 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Only a few short years ago, singer/songwriter/vocalist Eric Lindell was known only to a small but enthusiastic group of fans in his native Northern California and his adopted city of New Orleans. Once he hit the national music scene with his 2006 Alligator Records debut, Change In The Weather, critics and fans around the world celebrated the arrival of a roots rocker with dozens of unforgettable original songs. His combination of sweet, blue-eyed soul with groove-laden R&B, swamp pop, funk and blues won him critical and popular acclaim across the country. As he toured the U.S., his fan base grew, and before long clubs and festivals were filled with dancing people singing the words to every song. With his 2007 release, Low On Cash, Rich In Love, his popularity increased exponentially. A February 2008 appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien put him in front of an audience of millions of people worldwide. Clubs around the country were experiencing overflow crowds when Eric performed. The word was out. Eric Lindell had arrived. Lindell's live shows draw as much attention as his material. Fun, funky, high-energy and set-list free shows keep fans clamoring for more and coming back again and again. His unstoppable grooves, rocking, deeply rooted, original songs and excellent musicianship never fail to fill the dance floor. The Philadelphia Inquirer simply called his music, "timeless blue-eyed soul." The Boston Herald calls him "a ferocious talent."   

 Feufollet (Cajun) Missing Kidney Bar Stage:  Perfomance Schedule:  Friday, June 25; 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm & Saturday, June 26; 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm  FROM NICK SPITZER OF AMERICAN ROUTES --"Beyond their growing musical virtuosity, what sets Feufollet apart from other young bands is this ability to speak-and especially sing-in Cajun French. Their mastery of the language along with the music has enabled them not only to understand songs from oral tradition, but has opened up the creative possibility of writing new material-all with a beguiling mix of authoritative voice and youthful passion, seriousness of purpose and artistic risk-taking."  

 

 

Soul Rebels Brass Band: (Jazz/Funk Brass Band) Missing Kidney Bar Stage: Performance Schedule: Friday, June 25; 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm: Imagine blending the sounds of Mardi Gras funk, soft rock, and reggae so seemingly it defies category. Now shrink that idea into a seven-piece ensemble, add a hip hop sensibility plus a hundred years of New Orleans jazz tradition, and you'll get the Louisiana sound known as the Soul Rebels. This shrewd crew of college trained multi-instrumentalists are forcing listeners to "Let your mind be free" as they "Work it out" on the dance floor. There music is utterly uplifting and hard core leaving fans with a myriad of intrinsic sounds and songs to enjoy. The Soul Rebels were destined for success. After parading around the streets of New Orleans in the traditions of the second line and jazz funerals, the Soul Rebels began their professional debut with the famed Neville Brothers in New Orleans at the Hot Spot Tipitina's! The Soul Rebels rocked so hard and so strong they continued opening for the Neville Brothers and beyond. The bands hard funk groove has landed them gigs as an opening act for: Bootsy Collins, A Tribe Called Quest, Better than Ezra, Counting Crows, Olympia Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Roy Hargrove, James Brown, Allen Toussaint, Lionel Hampton, Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis,The Fugees, Digital Underground, The Roots, Brand New Heavies, The Gap Band, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page and many more. 

 Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers (Zydeco) Missing Kidney Bar Stage: Saturday, June 26; 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm: Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers are living up to their reputation as the most innovative and musically accomplished young zydeco band on the scene today. Lil Brians latest release, Funky Nation, is the bands boldest statement yet that zydeco can be a cutting edge sound as vital to a new generation of fans as it has been for longtime buffs. Significantly, it also represents the first time Stanley Buckwheat Duralof the genres top band, Buckwheat Zydecohas produced another artist. And Funky Nation is the first album by another artist to be released on Durals own record label, Tomorrow Recordings. We believe in Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers, says Dural, and we think Funky Nation will make a believer out of people all over America, too. There is no limit to Lil Brians future. He can take zydeco to another level. The undisputed capitol of Lil Brian Terrys Funky Nation, is the hamlet of Barrett Station, TexasB.S.T. to those in the know. This unprepossessing, well kept, Texas crossroads, just outside Baytown and not far from H-Town (Houston), is smack dab in the middle of East Texas zydeco country. the Creole people of this part of the country, most with strong Louisiana roots, are at least as ardent about zydeco as their neighbors across the border in Louisiana. The clubs, festivals and radio there pulse with zydeco rhythms both traditional and new, enjoyed by young and old. In this milieu, for the past decade and more, Lil Brian & The Zydeco Travelers have developed a reputation as the most innovative and musically accomplished zydeco band on the scene. 

Big Sam's Funky Nation: (Funk Brass Band) Missing Kidney Bar Stage: Saturday, June 26; 7:15 pm - 8:30 pm In New Orleans, a city indisputably overflowing with funk, the high honor for Best Funk Group of 2008 was awarded to Big Sam's Funky Nation at the 2009 Big Easy Music Awards. For the past few years, Big Sam's Funky Nation has been a driving force of urban funk. The band is led by trombone powerhouse, Big Sam Williams, formerly the trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who the San Francisco Chronicle calls "the top man on the slide trombone in the birthplace of jazz." Presiding over his Funky Nation is Big Sam, a big man with an impeccable urban fashion sense, who blows the funk out of his trombone and refuses to let the audience sit still. Between solos and trombone riffs, Big Sam second-lines (a uniquely New Orleans style of street-dance) and gets the crowd going both in movement and in replies to his call-and-response MC-style. An extremely talented group of musicians makes up the Funky Nation, bringing with them a rock sensibility, the improv-style associated with jazz and the horn-heavy front section that's the hallmark of big band funk. The energy level is high voltage when this band takes the stage, as Eric Podolsky of Jambase notes, "Big Sam's Funky Nation... pulls no punches when it comes to bringing a straight raw party." Big Sam's Funky Nation has undeniable personality, as well as masterful chops. Also, the band was recently featured on VH-1's Soul Cities, on Live with Regis & Kelly and on the Travel Channel's America the Wright Way.

 C.J. Chenier & Red Hot Louisiana Band (Zydeco) Missing Kidney Bar Stage: Sunday, June 27; 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: C.J. Chenier was literally born into the musical tradition of southwest Louisiana and Texas Zydeco, a chugging, accordion-led blend of French Creole and African-derived influences. Born the son of great Zydeco king Clifton Chenier, the first Grammy Award winning musician of his genre, C.J. was totally immersed in R&B, funk and jazz from childhood. Despite his family ties, or maybe because of them, C.J. wasn't terribly interested in his father's music as a teenager. A natural player, C.J. won a scholarship to study music at Texas Southern University and spent his college years exploring his own musical style. Coming into adulthood, C.J.'s interest in the music of his ancestors grew and after college graduation he joined his father's legendary Red Hot Louisiana Band on the road. After his father's death in 1987, C.J. assumed leadership of the band. While he continued to develop his personal accordion style, C.J. also gradually began grafting on influences from his boyhood. As C.J. explains, "I play it the way I play it. All my father really told me was to do the best I could do with my own style." Aside from performing and recording with his own ensemble, C.J. has worked with an impressive array of collaborators, including Paul Simon and The Gin Blossoms. A self-described "road dog", C.J. will be touring extensively in North America and Europe in 2007. 

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (Rock/Soul/Funk) Main Stage: Sunday, June 27; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm:Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews' new album, Backatown (Verve Forecast April 20), is the work of a rare artist who can draw both the unqualified respect of jazz legends and deliver a high-energy rock show capable of mesmerizing international rock stars and audiences alike. With such an unprecedented mix of rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul, he had to create his own name to describe his signature sound: Supafunkrock! Andrews is the kind of player who comes along maybe once in a generation, and Backatown is the latest, clearest proof that his artistry is as singular as his raw talent.  The album title comes from the locals' term for the area of New Orleans that includes the Tremé [pronounced Tre-MAY] neighborhood in the city's 6th Ward, where Troy was born and raised - getting his nickname at four years old when he was observed by his older brother James marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice as long as the kid was high. The cultural backdrop of the Tremé - the oldest black neighborhood in the U.S. - is at the very root of Troy's music, on top of which he's built his own sound. The streetwise, gritty feel of the term underscores the difference between the stereotype of the New Orleans jazz musician and what this audacious young artist and his cohorts are going for, and pulling off.

Carrie B Stage "Bands provided by the Natchel Blues Network"

Friday, June, 25
7:30-8:30 pm Bobby 'Blackhat' Walters

Saturday, June 26 
5-6 pm, 7:15-8:30 pm Bryan Dunn Blues Band

Sunday, June 27
1:30-2:30 pm, 3:30-4:30 pm ScuttleButtin'