Music of Louisiana
Encyclopedia
The music of Louisiana can be divided into four general regions. Southwest Louisiana, (Lake Charles area), Southern Louisiana, west of New Orleans (Opelousas and Lafayette; often called Acadiana) the southeast, the region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport shares the similarities with the rest of the US South.
This area is often called Cajun country or Acadiana, but only using this term excludes minority groups, including African Americans who are critical to the cultural/musical identity. Four main musical genres are indigenous to this area - Creole music
(i.e. zydeco), swamp blues
, swamp pop
and Cajun music
. These historically-rooted genres, with unique rhythms and personalities, have been transformed with modern sounds and instruments. The southwestern and south central Louisiana areas herald many artists and songs that have become international hits, won Grammy awards, and become highly sought after by collectors.
In southwestern Louisiana in the 1800s, the fiddle
was the most popular Cajun
instrument and the music still carried clear influences from the Poitou region of France and the Scottish/Canadian influences of their earlier homeland. In the late 19th century German
immigrants spreading outward from central and eastern Texas
and New Orleans soon brought the accordion
as well. African Americans, Free People of Color;gens de couleur libre, French speaking Black Americans and Creoles at the time sang a rhythmic type of song called juré
. When accordion, fiddle and the triangle iron were added later, the music evolved into French music or form la la, a central component of Creole music. La la was primarily rural, played at house dances also known as la las, and found in towns in the prairie regions like Mamou
, Eunice
and Opelousas
.
In 1901 (see 1901 in music
), oil
was discovered at Jennings
and immigration boomed. Many of the newcomers were white businessmen from outside of Louisiana who attempted to force the Cajuns and Creoles to adopt the dominant American cultural forms, even outlawing the use of the French language
in 1916. Despite the law, many Cajuns and Creoles still spoke French at home, and musical performances were in French.
was the predominant instrument and the music tended to sound more like early country music. Cajun music is typically a waltz
or two step.
and Cajun music
. Its most successful proponents included Slim Harpo
and Lightnin' Slim
, who enjoyed a number of rhythm and blues
and national hits and whose work was frequently covered by bands of the British Invasion
.
. The song structure is pure rock and roll, the rhythms are distinctly New Orleans based, the chord changes, vocals and inflections are R&B influenced, and the lyrics are sometimes French.
s in southwest and south central Louisiana. At an earlier period, Creole and Cajun music were more similar, but after World War II
, this regional French music evolved into a distinct expression of the Creoles, black and mixed race Americans. Along with the accordion, the second main instrument in a zydeco group is a corrugated metal washboard
, called a Zydeco Rubboard or frottoir. They made the music contemporary by adding electrical instruments (guitar and bass), keyboards, drumkit and even sometimes horns. The Creole Zydeco music of GRAMMY winning artists Queen Ida Guillory, Clifton Chenier, Rockin Sidney Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien remain some of the most internationally recognized zydeco music. John Delafose, Andrus Espree(aka)Beau Jocque, Boozoo Chavis, Rosie Ledet, Chubby Carrier, Conray Fontenot, Amede Ardoin, Rockin Dopsie, Geno Delafose, Nathan Williams, Keith Frank , Chris Ardoin, Cedric Watson and Jeffrey Broussard are also other well known Creole Zydeco musicians.
on the west and the Mississippi Delta
on the east has not led to a development of a "local" music. Traditional and modern country music
has been dominant, creating its own country stars, like Tim McGraw
, Jimmie Davis
, Trace Adkins
, Hank Williams Jr. and Andy Griggs
.
However, northern Louisiana's lasting contribution to the world of popular music was the radio program "The Louisiana Hayride
", which started broadcasting in 1948 on KWKH in Shreveport. Hank Williams, George Jones
, Elvis Presley
and nearly every other country legend, or future country legend alive during the 1950s stepped on stage at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. They performed, many for the first time on radio, on a signal that covered much of the southeastern US. The original production of the show ended in 1960, but re-runs and the occasional special broadcast continued for a few years. The Louisiana Hayride was regarded as a stepping stone to The Grand Ole Opry
, the legendary radio show from WSM in Nashville, Tennessee
.
Northern Louisiana in the 1950s had a country rock
scene, many of whose artists(the Lonesome Drifter) were recorded by local Ram Records
. Later, Shreveport
produced The Residents
, Kenny Wayne Shepherd
, Private Life featuring Danny Johnson, now a member of Steppenwolf (band)
, Ladarius McDonald,
and Sunday Mass Murder.
; many operatic works had their first performances in the New World in New Orleans.
, Africa
n slave
s and their descendants were not prohibited from performing their traditional music in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. The African slaves, many from the Caribbean islands, were allowed to gather on Sundays, their day off, on a plaza known as Congo Square
. Permitted as early as 1817, dancing in New Orleans had been restricted to the square, which was a hotbed of musical fusionism, as African styles from across America and the Caribbean met and danced in large groups, often in circle dances. The Congo Square gatherings became well known, and many whites came to watch and listen. Nevertheless, by 1830, opposition from whites in New Orleans and an influx of blacks elsewhere in the U.S. caused the decline of Congo Square's prominence. The tradition of mass dances in Congo Square continued sporadically, though it came to have more in common with minstrelsy than with authentic African traditions.
Caribbean dances known to have been imported to Louisiana include the calenda, congo, counjai and bamboula
.
Louis Gottschalk
was an early 19th century White Creole pianist
and composer
from New Orleans, the first American musician/composer to become famous in Europe. A number of his works incorporate rhythms and music he heard performed by African slaves.
In addition to the slave population, antebellum New Orleans also had a large population of "Free people of Color", mostly Creoles of mixed African and European heritage who worked as tradesmen. The more prosperous "Creoles" sent their children to be educated in France. They had their own dance bands, an opera company, and a symphony orchestra. The community produced such composers as Edmund Dede and Basil Bares. After the American Civil War
many Creole musicians became music teachers, teaching the use of European instruments to the newly freed slaves and their descendants.
, also known as Dixieland
. It came in to being around 1900. Many with memories of the time say that the most important figure in the formation of the music was Papa Jack Laine
who enlisted hundreds of musicians from all of the cities diverse ethnic groups and social status. Most of these musicians became instrumental in forming jazz music including Buddy Bolden
, Bunk Johnson
and the members of Original Dixieland Jass Band
. One of early rural blues, ragtime, and marching band music were combined with collective improvisation to create this new style of music. At first the music was known by various names such as "hot music" "hot ragtime" and "ratty music"; the term "jazz
" (early on often spelled "jass") did not become common until the 1910s. The early style was exemplified by the bands of such musicians as Freddie Keppard
, Jelly Roll Morton
, "King" Joe Oliver, Kid Ory
. The next generation took the young art form into more daring and sophisticated directions, with such creative musical virtuosos as Louis Armstrong
, Sidney Bechet
, and Red Allen
.
New Orleans was a regional Tin Pan Alley
music composing and publishing center through the 1920s, and was also an important center of ragtime
.
and Guitar Slim
, who both produced major regional, R&B and national hits.
demonstrated the versatility of the New Orleans tradition, taking a style rooted in traditional New Orleans jazz into swinging hot music popular into the rock and roll
era.
The city also has a rich tradition of gospel music
and spirituals; Mahalia Jackson
was the most famous of New Orleans' gospel singers.
In the 1950s, New Orleans again influenced the national music scene as a center in the development of rhythm and blues
. Important artists included Fats Domino
, Snooks Eaglin
, Dave Bartholomew
, Professor Longhair
, and Clarence Garlow.
The 1960s saw the emergence of Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by the stage name Dr. John
a New Orleans born singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combined blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll. Dr. John cited Professor Longhair
as one of his musical influences and has recorded a number of his compositions, most notably "Tipitina".
1980s new style of "street beat" brass bands combining the jazz brass band tradition with funk and hip hop was spearheaded by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
(which had more of a bebop
influence than many of the later bands), then the Rebirth Brass Band
.
Contemporary jazz has had a following in New Orleans with musicians such as Alvin Batiste
and Ellis Marsalis
. Some younger jazz virtuosos such as Wynton Marsalis
and Nicholas Payton
experiment with the avant garde while refusing to disregard the traditions of early jazz.
Continuing development of the traditional New Orleans jazz style, Tom McDermott, Evan Christopher
, New Orleans Nightcrawlers
.
Louisiana blues
created a specialized form of blues music sometimes using zydeco instrumentation and slow, tense rhythms that is closely related to New Orleans blues
and swamp blues
from Baton Rouge.
Significant New Orleans rock and roll bands include Zebra (band)
, The Meters
, The Radiators
, Galactic
, Better Than Ezra
, 12 Stones
, and Cowboy Mouth
. Popular alternative rock bands include Meriwether
.
Beginning in the mid 1990s, New Orleans became a hub of Southern rap
. First with Master P
and his No Limit
click based out of the 3rd Ward, then later came the Cash Money
clique who popularized a unique semi-melodic Louisiana
n style of rapping to the hip hop mainstream. Lil Wayne
became one of the most prominent New Orleans rappers. The city has also been a center of Southern hip hop, and the birthplace of Bounce music
.
Louisiana is known as the most important place for the development of a style of heavy metal
: sludge metal
. Two of its founding acts, Eyehategod
and Crowbar, are from New Orleans
, where the genre's most important scene can be found. Other notable sludge metal bands such as Acid Bath
, Down
, Soilent Green
and Choke are based in Louisiana. Blackened death metal band, Goatwhore
, are from New Orleans.
to New Orleans, specializing in recording and distributing local acts. Labels such as Jin, Swallow, Maison De Soul, and Bayou continue to record and distribute Cajun, zydeco, Creole music, and other south Louisiana music. Many of the original versions of classic songs are still being made and distributed.
One of the most successful label owners was Floyd Soileau
. Soileau started as a local DJ in Ville Platte, Louisiana
in the mid 1950s, and soon decided he would rather help make music than play it. He started most of the labels listed in the previous paragraph. He and his record shop are important pieces of Louisiana's music history.
Southern region
AcadianaAcadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate...
This area is often called Cajun country or Acadiana, but only using this term excludes minority groups, including African Americans who are critical to the cultural/musical identity. Four main musical genres are indigenous to this area - Creole music
Creole music
Creole music applies to two genres of music from south Louisiana: Creole folk and Creole. Creole folk dates from the 18th century or before, and it consists primarily of folk songs. Many were published, and some found their way into works by Louisiana composers such as Louis Moreau Gottschalk,...
(i.e. zydeco), swamp blues
Swamp blues
Swamp blues, sometimes the Excello sound, is a sub-genre of blues music and a variation of Louisiana blues that developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music,...
, swamp pop
Swamp pop
Swamp rock is a musical genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and traditional French...
and Cajun music
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
. These historically-rooted genres, with unique rhythms and personalities, have been transformed with modern sounds and instruments. The southwestern and south central Louisiana areas herald many artists and songs that have become international hits, won Grammy awards, and become highly sought after by collectors.
In southwestern Louisiana in the 1800s, the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
was the most popular Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
instrument and the music still carried clear influences from the Poitou region of France and the Scottish/Canadian influences of their earlier homeland. In the late 19th century German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
immigrants spreading outward from central and eastern Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and New Orleans soon brought the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
as well. African Americans, Free People of Color;gens de couleur libre, French speaking Black Americans and Creoles at the time sang a rhythmic type of song called juré
Juré
For the style of Louisianan Creole music, see Juré .Juré is a commune in the Loire department in central France....
. When accordion, fiddle and the triangle iron were added later, the music evolved into French music or form la la, a central component of Creole music. La la was primarily rural, played at house dances also known as la las, and found in towns in the prairie regions like Mamou
Mamou, Louisiana
Mamou is a town in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,566 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Mamou is located at ....
, Eunice
Eunice, Louisiana
Eunice is a city in Acadia, Evangeline and St. Landry parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 11,499 at the 2000 census.The St...
and Opelousas
Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
.
In 1901 (see 1901 in music
1901 in music
-Events:*April 18 - Contralto Mariska Horvath marries politician J. Frank Aldrich.*October 27 – First complete performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2*November 25 – Premiėre of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No...
), oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
was discovered at Jennings
Jennings, Louisiana
Jennings is a small city in and the parish seat of Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States, near Lake Charles. The population was 10,986 at the 2000 census....
and immigration boomed. Many of the newcomers were white businessmen from outside of Louisiana who attempted to force the Cajuns and Creoles to adopt the dominant American cultural forms, even outlawing the use of the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in 1916. Despite the law, many Cajuns and Creoles still spoke French at home, and musical performances were in French.
Cajun music
Cajun music is rooted in the music of the French-speaking Catholics of Canada and became transformed into a unique sound of the Cajun culture. In earlier years of the late 18th century the fiddleFiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
was the predominant instrument and the music tended to sound more like early country music. Cajun music is typically a waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
or two step.
Creole music
The term "Creole music" is used to describe both the early folk or roots music traditions of the mixed race rural Creoles of South Louisiana and the later more contemporary genre called zydeco. It was often simply called French music or Lee La. It was sung in French patois by Creoles of African, French and Spanish descent. This early American roots music evolved in the 1930s into a richer sound accompanied by more instruments. Creole pioneer Amede Ardoin is said to be the first Creole to record this indigenous music. He has also been credited for greatly influencing the foundation of traditional Cajun music. Melodies from pioneers like Ardoin provided a basis for works by composers Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Moses Hogan and others. Southern Black music traditions in the US have been known to change and evolve as quickly as they were being replicated by white artists, the music of the Creoles also eveolved into a more contemporaty amplified sound that was later called zydeco, which is the indigenous music of the Creoles or "Creole music." Zydeco comes from African words "zari, zarico, zodico zai'co" meaning "to dance or dance." Zydeco fused the traditional Creole roots music sang in French with contemporary sounds making it relevant, dynamic and constantly attracting a new generation of listeners within the Creole community as well as outside the community.Swamp blues
Swamp blues developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music, particularly the regional styles of zydecoZydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
and Cajun music
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
. Its most successful proponents included Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo was an American blues musician. He was known as a master of the blues harmonica; the name "Slim Harpo" was derived from "harp," the popular nickname for the harmonica in blues circles.-Early life:...
and Lightnin' Slim
Lightnin' Slim
Lightnin' Slim was an African-American Louisiana blues musician, who recorded for Excello Records and played in a style similar to its other Louisiana artists.-Career:...
, who enjoyed a number of rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and national hits and whose work was frequently covered by bands of the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
.
Swamp pop
Swamp pop came about in the mid 1950s. With the Cajun dance and musical conventions in mind, nationally popular rock, pop, country, and R&B songs were re-recorded, sometimes in French. Swamp Pop is more of a combination of many influences, and the bridge between zydeco, New Orleans second line, and rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. The song structure is pure rock and roll, the rhythms are distinctly New Orleans based, the chord changes, vocals and inflections are R&B influenced, and the lyrics are sometimes French.
Zydeco
In the early 1950s, zydeco evolved from the music of the CreoleLouisiana Creole people
Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...
s in southwest and south central Louisiana. At an earlier period, Creole and Cajun music were more similar, but after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, this regional French music evolved into a distinct expression of the Creoles, black and mixed race Americans. Along with the accordion, the second main instrument in a zydeco group is a corrugated metal washboard
Washboard
A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
, called a Zydeco Rubboard or frottoir. They made the music contemporary by adding electrical instruments (guitar and bass), keyboards, drumkit and even sometimes horns. The Creole Zydeco music of GRAMMY winning artists Queen Ida Guillory, Clifton Chenier, Rockin Sidney Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien remain some of the most internationally recognized zydeco music. John Delafose, Andrus Espree(aka)Beau Jocque, Boozoo Chavis, Rosie Ledet, Chubby Carrier, Conray Fontenot, Amede Ardoin, Rockin Dopsie, Geno Delafose, Nathan Williams, Keith Frank , Chris Ardoin, Cedric Watson and Jeffrey Broussard are also other well known Creole Zydeco musicians.
Northern Louisiana music
The region's location, bordered by TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
on the west and the Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
on the east has not led to a development of a "local" music. Traditional and modern country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
has been dominant, creating its own country stars, like Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
, Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
, Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins
Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...
, Hank Williams Jr. and Andy Griggs
Andy Griggs
Andrew Tyler "Andy" Griggs is an American country music artist. He has released three albums for RCA Records Nashville and a fourth for Montage Music Group...
.
However, northern Louisiana's lasting contribution to the world of popular music was the radio program "The Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
", which started broadcasting in 1948 on KWKH in Shreveport. Hank Williams, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and nearly every other country legend, or future country legend alive during the 1950s stepped on stage at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. They performed, many for the first time on radio, on a signal that covered much of the southeastern US. The original production of the show ended in 1960, but re-runs and the occasional special broadcast continued for a few years. The Louisiana Hayride was regarded as a stepping stone to The Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
, the legendary radio show from WSM in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
Northern Louisiana in the 1950s had a country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
scene, many of whose artists(the Lonesome Drifter) were recorded by local Ram Records
Ram Records (US)
Ram Records was a Shreveport, Louisiana, based record label, founded by Myra Smith in 1955. The label lasted into the 1960s. The label recorded regional rhythm and blues, rockabilly, blues and country music artists. Ram's pressings were made by RCA. Ram also issued recordings on the Clif Records...
. Later, Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
produced The Residents
The Residents
The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
, Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician.-Biography:Shepherd graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana...
, Private Life featuring Danny Johnson, now a member of Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
, Ladarius McDonald,
and Sunday Mass Murder.
New Orleans music
In the 19th century there was already a mixture of French,Spanish, African and Afro-Caribbean music. The city had a great love for OperaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
; many operatic works had their first performances in the New World in New Orleans.
Early African, Caribbean and Creole music
Unlike in the Protestant colonies of what would become the USAUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s and their descendants were not prohibited from performing their traditional music in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. The African slaves, many from the Caribbean islands, were allowed to gather on Sundays, their day off, on a plaza known as Congo Square
Congo Square
Congo Square is an open space within Louis Armstrong Park, which is located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, just across Rampart Street north of the French Quarter. The Tremé neighborhood is famous for its history of African American music....
. Permitted as early as 1817, dancing in New Orleans had been restricted to the square, which was a hotbed of musical fusionism, as African styles from across America and the Caribbean met and danced in large groups, often in circle dances. The Congo Square gatherings became well known, and many whites came to watch and listen. Nevertheless, by 1830, opposition from whites in New Orleans and an influx of blacks elsewhere in the U.S. caused the decline of Congo Square's prominence. The tradition of mass dances in Congo Square continued sporadically, though it came to have more in common with minstrelsy than with authentic African traditions.
Caribbean dances known to have been imported to Louisiana include the calenda, congo, counjai and bamboula
Bamboula
A bamboula is a kind of drum made from a section of giant bamboo with skin stretched over the ends. It is also a secular dance accompanied by the drums. Both were brought to the Americas by African slaves....
.
Louis Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
was an early 19th century White Creole pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
from New Orleans, the first American musician/composer to become famous in Europe. A number of his works incorporate rhythms and music he heard performed by African slaves.
In addition to the slave population, antebellum New Orleans also had a large population of "Free people of Color", mostly Creoles of mixed African and European heritage who worked as tradesmen. The more prosperous "Creoles" sent their children to be educated in France. They had their own dance bands, an opera company, and a symphony orchestra. The community produced such composers as Edmund Dede and Basil Bares. After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
many Creole musicians became music teachers, teaching the use of European instruments to the newly freed slaves and their descendants.
Jazz
Probably the single most famous style of music to originate in the city was New Orleans jazzNew Orleans Jazz
New Orleans Jazz may refer to:*Dixieland, a style of jazz music*New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park*Utah Jazz, a professional National Basketball Association franchise that was previously based in New Orleans and known as the New Orleans Jazz, in recognition of the jazz music of New Orleans*A...
, also known as Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
. It came in to being around 1900. Many with memories of the time say that the most important figure in the formation of the music was Papa Jack Laine
Papa Jack Laine
George Vital "Papa Jack" Laine was a pioneering band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish-American War to World War I....
who enlisted hundreds of musicians from all of the cities diverse ethnic groups and social status. Most of these musicians became instrumental in forming jazz music including Buddy Bolden
Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden was an African American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of rag-time music which later came to be known as jazz.- Life :...
, Bunk Johnson
Bunk Johnson
Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson was a prominent early New Orleans jazz trumpet player in the early years of the 20th century who enjoyed a revived career in the 1940s....
and the members of Original Dixieland Jass Band
Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band were a New Orleans, Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz single ever issued. The group composed and made the first recordings of many jazz standards, the most famous being Tiger Rag...
. One of early rural blues, ragtime, and marching band music were combined with collective improvisation to create this new style of music. At first the music was known by various names such as "hot music" "hot ragtime" and "ratty music"; the term "jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
" (early on often spelled "jass") did not become common until the 1910s. The early style was exemplified by the bands of such musicians as Freddie Keppard
Freddie Keppard
Freddie Keppard was an early jazz cornetist.Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His older brother Louis Keppard was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet...
, Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, "King" Joe Oliver, Kid Ory
Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.-Biography:...
. The next generation took the young art form into more daring and sophisticated directions, with such creative musical virtuosos as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
, and Red Allen
Red Allen
Henry James "Red" Allen was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.-Life and career:...
.
New Orleans was a regional Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
music composing and publishing center through the 1920s, and was also an important center of ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
.
New Orleans blues
The blues that developed in the 1940s and 1950s in and around the city of New Orleans was strongly influenced by jazz and incorporated Caribbean influences, it is dominated by piano and saxophone but has also produced major guitar bluesmen. Major figures in the genre include Professor LonghairProfessor Longhair
Professor Longhair was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist...
and Guitar Slim
Guitar Slim
Eddie Jones , better known as Guitar Slim, was a New Orleans blues guitarist, from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song, produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do"...
, who both produced major regional, R&B and national hits.
Other
Louis PrimaLouis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
demonstrated the versatility of the New Orleans tradition, taking a style rooted in traditional New Orleans jazz into swinging hot music popular into the rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
era.
The city also has a rich tradition of gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and spirituals; Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...
was the most famous of New Orleans' gospel singers.
In the 1950s, New Orleans again influenced the national music scene as a center in the development of rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. Important artists included Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
, Snooks Eaglin
Snooks Eaglin
Snooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. , was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years....
, Dave Bartholomew
Dave Bartholomew
Dave Bartholomew is a musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century...
, Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist...
, and Clarence Garlow.
The 1960s saw the emergence of Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by the stage name Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
a New Orleans born singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combined blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll. Dr. John cited Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist...
as one of his musical influences and has recorded a number of his compositions, most notably "Tipitina".
1980s new style of "street beat" brass bands combining the jazz brass band tradition with funk and hip hop was spearheaded by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...
(which had more of a bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
influence than many of the later bands), then the Rebirth Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé...
.
Contemporary jazz has had a following in New Orleans with musicians such as Alvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste was an avant garde jazz clarinetist born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at his own jazz institute at Southern University in Baton Rouge...
and Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
. Some younger jazz virtuosos such as Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
and Nicholas Payton
Nicholas Payton
Nicholas Payton is a jazz trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana.-Biography:The son of bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton, he took up the trumpet at the age of four and by the time he was nine he was playing in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band alongside his father...
experiment with the avant garde while refusing to disregard the traditions of early jazz.
Continuing development of the traditional New Orleans jazz style, Tom McDermott, Evan Christopher
Evan Christopher
Evan Christopher is an American clarinetist and composer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Recognized mainly for a personal brand of "contemporary early-jazz,” he strives to extend the legacy of the unique clarinet style anchored in the musical vocabulary created by early New Orleans clarinetists...
, New Orleans Nightcrawlers
New Orleans Nightcrawlers
New Orleans Nightcrawlers are a Jazz and Rhythm & Blues group based in the New Orleans area. They were founded in l994 by pianist Tom McDermott, sousaphonist Matt Perrine and trumpeter Kevin Clark...
.
Louisiana blues
Louisiana blues
Louisiana blues is a genre of blues music that developed in the period after World War II in the state of Louisiana. It is generally divided into two major sub-genres, with the jazz-influenced New Orleans blues based around the city and the slower tempo swamp blues incorporating influences from...
created a specialized form of blues music sometimes using zydeco instrumentation and slow, tense rhythms that is closely related to New Orleans blues
New Orleans blues
New Orleans rhythm and blues refers to a type of R&B music from the U.S. city of New Orleans, Louisiana, characterized by extensive use of piano and horn sections, complex syncopated "second line" rhythms, and lyrics that reflect New Orleans life....
and swamp blues
Swamp blues
Swamp blues, sometimes the Excello sound, is a sub-genre of blues music and a variation of Louisiana blues that developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music,...
from Baton Rouge.
Significant New Orleans rock and roll bands include Zebra (band)
Zebra (band)
Zebra is a hard rock band founded in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It features Randy Jackson , Felix Hanemann and Guy Gelso . Their mainstream debut on Atlantic Records was in 1983 with their eponymous album, highlighted by the singles "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door"...
, The Meters
The Meters
The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...
, The Radiators
The Radiators (US)
The Radiators, also known as The New Orleans Radiators, are a rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, who have combined the traditional musical styles of their native city with more mainstream rock and R&B influences to form a bouncy, funky variety of swamp-rock they call fish-head music...
, Galactic
Galactic
Galactic is a funk and jazz jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-Origins and background:Originally formed in 1994 as an octet and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a sextet of: guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio,...
, Better Than Ezra
Better Than Ezra
Better Than Ezra is an American alternative rock trio based in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Formation and early success:Better Than Ezra was formed in 1988 by its four original members - vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin; Joel Rundell, the lead guitarist; bassist Tom Drummond; and drummer, Cary...
, 12 Stones
12 Stones
12 Stones is a rock band that was formed in 2000 in Mandeville, Louisiana. They have collectively sold more than 2 million records.-History:The four band members met in Mandeville, Louisiana, a small suburb north of New Orleans, and within 15 months were signed to a record deal with Wind-up Records...
, and Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth is a rock band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their name usually means "One with a loud and raucous voice". The nucleus of the band formed in the 1990s, and they have become a powerhouse live act whose performances have been likened to "a religious experience."Some of their most...
. Popular alternative rock bands include Meriwether
Meriwether (band)
- History :Meriwether released their debut full length, Make Your Move, in 2005 on GVE Records and sold over 10,000 copies and played over 300 shows in one year to promote the album. The band signed to Suretone Records in 2006 and the album Make Your Move was re-released in 2007...
.
Beginning in the mid 1990s, New Orleans became a hub of Southern rap
Southern rap
Southern hip hop, also called Southern rap, is a genre of American music influenced by hip hop that emerged from a late-1980s club-oriented vibe in southern U.S...
. First with Master P
Master P
Percy Robert Miller , better known by his stage name Master P or his business name P. Miller, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, and producer. He is the founder of the popular label No Limit Records, which went bankrupt and was relaunched as New No Limit Records through Koch...
and his No Limit
No Limit Records
No Limit Records was an American hip-hop record label that was founded in 1990 by hip-hop artist, Percy "Master P" Miller. It was distributed by Priority Records.-No Limit Early years:...
click based out of the 3rd Ward, then later came the Cash Money
Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records is a record label founded by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Universal Republic Records as of 2011...
clique who popularized a unique semi-melodic Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
n style of rapping to the hip hop mainstream. Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
became one of the most prominent New Orleans rappers. The city has also been a center of Southern hip hop, and the birthplace of Bounce music
Bounce music
Bounce music is an energetic style of New Orleans hip hop music which is said to have originated as early as the late 1980s, but is typically believed to have begun with the 1991 single "Where Dey At" by MC T.Tucker and DJ Irv...
.
Louisiana is known as the most important place for the development of a style of heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
: sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
. Two of its founding acts, Eyehategod
Eyehategod
Eyehategod is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans who formed in 1988. They have become one of the most well known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene...
and Crowbar, are from New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, where the genre's most important scene can be found. Other notable sludge metal bands such as Acid Bath
Acid Bath
Acid Bath was a seminal American sludge metal band from Houma, Louisiana that was active from 1991 to 1997. Acid Bath combined doom metal roots with influences from black metal, death metal, gothic rock, blues, folk, and country...
, Down
Down (band)
Down is an American heavy metal supergroup that formed in 1991 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Phil Anselmo, guitarist Pepper Keenan, guitarist Kirk Windstein, bassist Pat Bruders and drummer Jimmy Bower. Since their formation, Down has gone on hiatus twice...
, Soilent Green
Soilent Green
Soilent Green is a grindcore and sludge metal band that hails from Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.-Overview:Soilent Green was founded in 1988. Their début album wasn't released until 1995, when Pussysoul came out on Dwell Records...
and Choke are based in Louisiana. Blackened death metal band, Goatwhore
Goatwhore
Goatwhore is an American blackened death metal band, formed in 1997 in New Orleans, Louisiana.- Biography :Goatwhore was formed by singer/guitarist Sammy Duet following the breakup of his previous band, Acid Bath. Soilent Green singer L...
, are from New Orleans.
Recordings
Small, local record labels proliferated from Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
to New Orleans, specializing in recording and distributing local acts. Labels such as Jin, Swallow, Maison De Soul, and Bayou continue to record and distribute Cajun, zydeco, Creole music, and other south Louisiana music. Many of the original versions of classic songs are still being made and distributed.
One of the most successful label owners was Floyd Soileau
Floyd Soileau
James Floyd Soileau is an American record producer.Soileau was born November 2, 1938, in Faubourg, a small community between Ville Platte and Washington, Louisiana. He grew up speaking Cajun French and did not speak English until attending school at the age of 6 years...
. Soileau started as a local DJ in Ville Platte, Louisiana
Ville Platte, Louisiana
Ville Platte is a city in and the parish seat of Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,145 at the 2000 census. Its name is derived from the French ville plate, or "flat town."-History:...
in the mid 1950s, and soon decided he would rather help make music than play it. He started most of the labels listed in the previous paragraph. He and his record shop are important pieces of Louisiana's music history.
Country music
Sammy Kershaw, Eddy Raven, Jo-el Sonnier, and the band River Road are all Acadiana natives who went on to score national fame and sell millions of records via the major labels in Nashville.External links
- Satchmo.com
- Gumbo Radio, "Louisiana's music and then some"
- OffBeat magazine of "Louisiana music and culture"
- WWOZ 88.7 FM
- KBON 101. FM
- Clarence's Greater New Orleans Area Cajun & Zydeco Schedule
- Clarence's Baton Rouge Cajun & Zydeco Schedule
- ARNB.ORG, Cajun and Zydeco music event schedules for the world