For the first time in over a year, James Hall was back in town to play Carrollton Station with longtime friend and collaborator Michael Blum who supplied support on lap steel. Opening the night was Blum’s newest project, Mystery Girl (Josh Katz – Lead Vocals, Mike Blum – Lead Guitar/Lap Steel, Nate Peek – Bass, Nino Mazzaro – Acoustic Guitar, and Steve Gopaul – Drums). When they took the stage the first thing that went through my head was RRRROOOOOOOOOOORRRRR!!!!!, but in life and music you can’t judge a book by a cover, anchored by Blum’s steel and guitar, Mystery Girl cruised through ten tracks of pleasantness. A pinch of country, rock, and folk rounded out the sound. The opening set served as the perfect compliment to Hall’s set.
Swedish folk singer-songwriter Sofia Talvik is currently on a busy tour of the South that is currently parked in New Orleans for a couple shows this weekend, starting with a set at Chickie Wah-Wahlast night. ... Photographer Marc Pagani snagged some great shots from her show...
There’s something about a Sunday night in the French Quarter that is qualitatively different from other nights as the city takes a rare, collective deep breath from the events of the weekend. Wrapping a busy weekend of live music on Decatur with this 18th Anniversary accented both a great tour for the artists, and a solid weekend before the madness of Carnival season begins to take hold this weekend.
The combined age of the two last bands featured at WTUL’s Back To School Bash at Tipitina’s would make them barely old enough to walk and somewhere deep into the Terrible Two’s. Having not heard of Gold and the Rush until yesterday afternoon, I was completely in the dark as to their sound and although they described one of their tunes written four months ago as “old”, they came off as road-tested, having already jelled into a well-formed Americana-tinged rock band, representing an amalgamation of too many rough-and-tumble outfits to name, but with an entirely unique vocal presence from bands prior. There were a couple moments of unexpected transcendence towards the end, delivering a revelatory set that’ll undoubtedly help build their following via word-of-mouth from those in attendance. Despite a rough vocal mix for the early portion of the set and an assumedly small catalog, Gold and Rush put together nearly an hour’s worth of new, impressive material that teetered between pure-bred rock-and-roll, and country-infused punk-a-billy.
[Last] Saturday night brought together two very different acts to Tipitinas Uptown, featuring a bill of Nurses and The Mountain Goats. It was clear by the midpoint of the Nurses set who the sizable crowd really came to see.
Alabama Shakes roared into the conversation as a major breakthrough artist of 2011 via an early endorsement/introduction by Thursday’s show promoters and influential music blog Aquarium Drunkard. This first nudge in the right direction was followed by a huge overnight surge in notoriety at the CMJ Music Marathon in October. At their debut performance in the city in early-2012, Alabama Shakes proved to the people of New Orleans in a One Eyed Jacks-turned-sardine-can what all the unprecedented yammerin’ is all about. Also, as an aside, when the folks at the Toulouse Street venue say they are having an early show, they mean it. This night saw three bands’ performances wrapped up by 10 pm, causing us to miss the opening acts and arrive just as the Shakes were taking the stage. The chills-inducing set instilled pure musical salvation into what could’ve otherwise been an uncomfortable hour in the velvet-draped bordello style saloon.
