Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival – A Variety of Tasty Flavors

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

It’s fun to think of the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, taking place Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18, 2015 at Lafayette Square, for its signature, “Okay, turn around” concept. The event boasts two prosceniums – the larger St. Charles Street Stage and the more intimate Camp Street Stage. So when an act ends on one, another band strikes up on the opposite side of the square. Thus, the announcer’s suggestion to “Okay, turn around!” and the pleasure of no set-up time between bands. Hey, that works and you don’t have to miss a beat.

In the minds of many, New Orleans isn’t considered much of a blues town or for that matter, not necessarily a barbecue town either. Guess those folks never heard of the great guitarist and vocalist Walter “Wolfman” Washington who on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. kicks off what could be considered an “appetizer” of the weekend’s full-days schedule. Washington is truly a New Orleans bluesman, an urban blues man, a soul-filled bluesman who retains his rhythm and blues roots (notice the word “blues”) playing in dark, back-of-town spots like Dorothy’s Medallion behind the late great, “Tan Canary,” Johnny Adams. Washington’s last performance at the Blues Fest remains memorable for the artist’s pure musicianship and his sharp outfit shining beneath the stage lights. The always lively pianist and vocalist Marcia Ball, with her leg undoubtedly swinging under the keyboards, closes Friday’s two set segment of the Fest starting at 7 p.m.

Saturday gets going early at 11 a.m. though many eyes are focused on the end of the day’s schedule with a performance dubbed, “Ride Your Pony Down to New Orleans.” The cast in this get-down is The Funky Meters, with original Meters keyboardist/vocalist Art Neville and bassist/vocalist George Porter plus guitarist Brian Stoltz and drummer Terrence Houston. The special guests on this set that begins at 7 p.m. truly are special – Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame inductee, composer, pianist, vocalist Allen Toussaint and New Orleans Queen of Soul, Grammy-winning Irma Thomas. The connection to the late, great Lee Dorsey’s 1965 hit “Ride Your Pony” is that the Meters covered the tune and Toussaint produced Dorsey’s original recording.

Coming on at 5:45 p.m., just before the “Pony” extravaganza and on the opposite, Camp Street Stage, is a veteran musician with an unusual handle, Swamp Dogg. He is performing in New Orleans for only the second time in his long career as a vocalist, pianist, composer and arranger. His first stop here was at 2013’s Ponderosa Stomp where he shook up the house as he jumped off the stage to greet the audience. Considered a cult figure by some, Swamp Dogg, who began his career as soul singer Little Jerry Williams, promises to bring some of his early soul numbers to his set as well as his more eyebrow raising material like tunes from his latest CD The White Man Made Me Do It. He’ll be backed by a band that will include a three-man, New Orleans horn section.

Naturally, the festival also offers an array of artists performing in the more traditional blues styles – Mississippi and Chicago – that fans expect. In the Chicago mode is guitarist and vocalist Lurrie Smith who starts strumming on his electric ax at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Sunday’s “main event” is the Excello Records Reunion that includes Torras, Louisiana-born, 82-year-old singer, harmonica player and guitarist Lazy Lester. He is perhaps most noted for his classic and often covered tunes such as “I Hear You Knockin’” and “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter,” that he states he wrote but were credited to producer Jay Miller.

The influential record label was founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1953 by Ernie Young and became home to several Louisiana artists. Those celebrating Excello along with Lazy Lester will be labelmates vocalist Carol Fran, Louisiana blues and zydeco guitarist and vocalist Classie Ballou and guitar slinger and vocalist Lil Buck Sinegal who was once a session man with the label and a longtime sideman with Zydeco King Clifton Chenier. Sinegal now leads his own band and plays it all – blues, rhythm and blues, zydeco, you name it.

Two strong women from different eras and with very different styles also headline the festival on Sunday. At 7 p.m., Grammy-nominated vocalist Ruthie Foster arrives on the big St. Charles Avenue Stage. The Texas native grew up in a family of gospel singers and retains those roots in her earthy, blues-folk style. An in-demand performer at festivals around the world, Foster released her latest CD, Promise of a Brand New Day in 2014.

Though Foster and veteran vocalist Denise LaSalle share a gospel music background, LaSalle’s style is harder edged with lyrics that talk about man troubles and the like that she delivers with spunk. Mississippi-born, LaSalle who hits the stage at 5:45 p.m., headed to Chicago and soon signed with the noted Chess label. Also well known in the rhythm and blues and soul genres, LaSalle was inducted into Clarksdale Mississippi’s Blues Hall of Fame with some comparing her stylistically with the late great Queen of the Blues Koko Taylor.

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, a free event presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in a big way with this year’s solidly diverse line-up.

This article originally published in the October 12, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.