THE LOUISIANA CONNECTION
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| Dusk at Sam's Burger Joint and Music Hall |
Despite
not leaving the city limits of San Antonio, I got to enjoy music with a Louisiana flavor this past weekend.
It
all started Friday night out on the patio at Sam’s Burger Joint and Music Hall.
Two members of the Bluebucks – Gary Loper on guitar and Cecil Yancey on bass –
played a nice mix of blues and funk. All I needed was a shrimp po’ boy and a
cold bottle of Abita Purple Haze, and I would have felt like I was in a club on
Frenchmen Street.
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| Gary Loper and Cecil Yancey of the Bluebucks |
There’s a Cajun lilt to Gary’s Texas twang. He grew up in
Brazoria County on the southeastern Texas coast, and was influenced by the
region’s Cajun, zydeco, blues and jazz music. You can hear it in his voice and
you can definitely hear the influence in his music.
From
the patio we moved indoors to the Music Hall and settled in for opening act
Seth Walker. Seth’s website says that he plays a mixture of traditional blues
with a New Orleans flair. Pretty cool, considering he was born and raised in
North Carolina.
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| Seth's new CD, "Time Can Change," which he called a very personal and intimate project. He felt the cover of the CD needed to be equally up close and personal. |
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| Seth's treasured guitar |
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| Seth Walker |
I’ll
never forget the first time I heard Seth sing. I had my car radio set to KSYM
for the Third Coast Music show. “Two Feet Left to the Ceiling” came on, and
chills ran down my spine. That song could be the ballad of Hurricane Katrina;
you get a sense of the despair, the hopelessness and the overwhelming
abandonment the citizens of News Orleans must have felt during that tragic low
point in our country’s history.
But
just as his music takes you to the depths, it also lifts you up in joy. Try to
sit still as you listen to “Miss Ann.” When you hear the opening notes of
“Can’t Come With You,” don’t tap your feet. And please, do NOT clap along when
you hear “More Days Like This.”
I
dare you.
Seth’s
acoustic show warmed up the crowd for long, tall Marcia Ball…the queen of the
keyboards. I think USA Today said it best when they described her as “…where
Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet.”
Born
in Orange, Texas, but raised in Vinton, La., Marcia owns the room when she
plays. When she’s introduced, she seemingly glides across the stage and then
sits at the keyboard and crosses her impossibly long legs. It’s next to
impossible to get a photo that isn’t blurred of her legs because they don’t
stop moving in time with the music.
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| Her feet never stay still. |
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| Marcia Ball |
Marcia
has the uncanny ability to make you wanna dance one minute with “That’s How It
Goes” and the next minute, you’re wiping tears from your eyes when you hear
“Louisiana 1927.”
So,
after all that bayou influence on Friday, you’d think I’d had enough of The
Pelican State. But far from it, because on Saturday night I got to see
Louisiana born and raised Wendy Colonna at Luna on San Pedro.
Wendy’s
music makes me smile…plain and simple. Her voice can start off sweet and pure
and then at just the right moment, turn edgy and gritty.
I
also came to know Wendy’s music through KSYM. Two of my favorite songs of hers
should come as no surprise: “Louisiana” and “Hurricane.”
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| Wendy Colonna at Luna on San Pedro |
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| Wendy, with some of the Lazybones |
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| Louisiana's own Wendy Colonna |
The
show Saturday night was a bit different than normal. Along with her bass player
Michael Stevens, she was joined by three musicians from Belgium and one from
Holland.
She
met the Belgians on her solo acoustic European tour last September. She
admitted she was a bit apprehensive when meeting them the first time for a jam,
but that nervousness was quickly replaced by bonding. One week after they met
and after playing together only five times, they headed into a studio and
recorded seven songs. The result is the beautiful “Barefoot in Belgium.” The
band is known as the Lazybones, named after one of the Hoagy Carmichael songs
they recorded.
Amazing.
See what wonderful things music can do?
And
this whole Louisiana connection is pretty cool, too. It all magically came
together one amazing weekend in March.
They
say everything happens for a reason. But really, do you need a reason other
than the music?
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