XL: SXSW

This year, especially, resilient sound of New Orleans will represent at SXSW

By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 16, 2006

The first encouraging sign that New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz and cradle of rock, was on the rebound for glory was the announcement in early February that Jazz Fest — Coachella for people who can actually play and sing — would be presented on the last weekend of April and first weekend of May.

Then came word that Louisiana would make a major stand at this year's South by Southwest, to let the world know, Gov. Kathleen Blanco announced, that "Louisiana is open for business."

Our neighbors to the east have had a sustained presence at SXSW since Year 1, when the fledgling conference catered to acts within driving distance of Austin. But the Lou has never turned out quite like it will this year.

The temporarily displaced Ponderosa Stomp festival, featuring garage legends and one-hit phenoms from the Gulf Coast, will be represented by a Friday showcase at the Continental Club, following an industry mixer/crawfish boil at the South Congress venue.

In the Convention Center trade show, a 400-square-foot booth will promote 15 music-related businesses from Louisiana and tout a recently passed tax credit bill that includes incentives for labels to record in Louisiana. The state, which earmarked $60,000 for marketing at SXSW, is even sending a brass marching band for some guerrilla street marketing.

Among 1,400 acts from all over the world, New Orleans music will be hard to miss at this year's festival.

The crowning event will be a free, all-day affair Saturday at Town Lake's Auditorium Shores featuring Louisiana-based acts such as Allen Toussaint, BeauSoleil, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, featuring the phenomenal drummer Raymond Weber.

Weber also plays with a N.O. supergroup dubbed New Orleans Social Club, which will be making its second-ever public appearance at Auditorium Shores. Featuring Ivan Neville, bassist George Porter Jr. and guitarist Leo Nocentelli from the Meters, the NOSC were put together six weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit by producers Leo Sacks and Ray Bardani to record the album "Sing Me Back Home" at Wire Recording on South Lamar Boulevard.

"It was the best thing we could've done for ourselves at the time," says Weber, who was in Brazil playing with Neville when Katrina's destruction rained down on his beloved hometown. "It just clicked from jump," Weber says of the sessions. "It was like a party back home."

That's exactly the feel co-producer Leo Sacks, who compiles R&B reissues for Sony/Legacy, was going for. "I wanted to make a record that would sound like the old neighborhood," the New Yorker said. "Even though the old neighborhood might not be there anymore."

Sacks first assembled a house band, calling Ivan Neville and his Uncle Cyril, who were both living in Austin after Katrina. At Cyril's suggestion, Sacks checked out the Wire analog studio, and when owner Stuart Sullivan shuffled his schedule to block out a week for the project, the New Orleans Social Club was born.

"We created a community in that studio, a great ensemble who are so comfortable with themselves and each other," Sacks said. "It was seven days in October that I'll never forget."

The album ranges from gospel and second-line funk to jazz and an album-closing pop ballad from John Boutte. But having a house band draws the diverse styles together.

Sacks chose most of the material, tapping Cyril Neville, the most political of the Nevilles, to cover Curtis Mayfield's "This Is My Country," saving "Walkin' To New Orleans" for Dr. John and drafting Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball to reprise Thomas' bouncy "Look Up," whose lyrics of finding the positive when things are down acquired new significance.

But the album's highlight is a funky, New Orleanized version of John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son" that Ivan Neville cooked up in rehearsals. Sacks points to that anti-war tune as an example of how "Sing Me Back Home" might have been inspired by the Katrina tragedy, but it also applies to a greater context of emotions. "This record, I feel, is a snapshot of lives in transition," he said. "All the fear, rage, turmoil and despair of the moment are met with by a spirit of faith, hope and courage."

Austin and New Orleans have long been sister cities when it comes to music. Well, maybe more like uncle/nephew cities when you consider the head start they had over in the Crescent City. When Rod Hodges of the Iguanas moved his family here after Katrina hit, he said it was only natural. "There are two great music cities in the country," he said in September, "and one of them is out of commission for God knows how long."

The Austin/New Orleans connection has gotten stronger after the hurricane overwhelmed the levees of New Orleans like basketball fans swarming on court after their school beats Duke.

The great Irma Thomas was in Austin when the storm hit, playing a corporate party. When she turned up unannounced at Threadgill's to share the stage with her good friend Ball a few days later, she was a portrait of resiliency. All Thomas had left was what she and her husband had packed, but she still had her music.

Like the rest of the country, Sacks watched the footage of what was happening in New Orleans, shaking his head and wondering how this could be happening in America. "I knew what I had to do," said the former Billboard music writer, who developed a deep affinity for the music after covering Jazz Fest two decades ago. "Music is the key to jump-starting the healing process."

mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652