Tag: Mississippi River

MIXTAPE: Lucero’s Ben Nichols & Rick Steff Celebrate the Spaces In Between

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Note: Ben Nichols and Rick Steff, two members of Lucero, recently released a special acoustic album, Lucero Unplugged, reimagining songs from across the band’s 25-year catalog. To celebrate its release on January 24, we asked the pair to curate a Mixtape for BGS.)

Rick and I each chose five songs for this playlist focusing on the spaces in between the notes. We feel these songs illustrate that sometimes it’s the notes that are chosen not to be played that add weight and impact. It’s the spaces in between the notes that bring life to the notes that are there. Rick’s picks naturally focus on piano players and my own choices lean more towards acoustic guitars. It’s easy to tell who suggested which songs. But I love the list we ended up with. Thanks for letting us participate in this and thanks for listening. – Ben Nichols

With all these choices it’s the notes not played, the spaces between, the breaths between the sounds. When making Lucero Unplugged these players and records informed a lot of the choices and approaches I took with regards to dynamics and voicings, and mainly just trying to be a solid accompanist for Ben and to the song. – Rick Steff

“Dayton Ohio 1903” – Randy Newman

Randy Newman is the king of piano voicing. Where he places his notes is always perfect. He’s also an amazing accompanist and I always think of him whenever I record piano. This often overlooked song shows all of that as well as being a portal to another time. – RS

“Florida” – Thomas Dollbaum

One of my favorite (mainly) acoustic records. A friend turned me on to Thomas’ album, Wellswood, and I liked it so much I asked Thomas to come to The Whitewater Tavern in my hometown of Little Rock and play my 50th birthday party with me. In the song “Florida” we hear a story that’s rough around the edges sung in a voice that’s vulnerable, but builds with the music and then pulls the rug out from under you, punching you in the gut. He’s so good he makes me jealous. – BN

 “Waterlow” – Mott the Hoople

Ian Hunter. No band was more influential to me than Mott the Hoople and their early records have amazing keyboard parts. “Waterlow” reminds me of Lucero songs compositionally. Beautiful song and lovely piano arpeggio that follows the vocal. – RS

“Goin’ Down South”  – R.L. Burnside

The haunting drone of this early R.L. Burnside recording captured my imagination the first time I heard it. In between the driving acoustic guitar licks and the churning vocals you can hear the Mississippi Hill Country nights. You can see the Mississippi River and feel its meandering presence as it makes its way south relentlessly, through the middle of the country. – BN

“I Keep a Close Watch” – John Cale

John Cale. Again, all about accompanying. This performance has always been a favorite of mine from the ex-Velvet Underground solo catalog. John’s piano work in the Velvets has also influenced and showed up on Lucero records for sure. – RS

“Good Woman” – Cat Power

The Lucero song “When You Decided to Leave,” featured on the new Lucero Unplugged album Rick and I just released, was written after I heard this Cat Power song. The lyrics about leaving something you love, being a “good” or “bad” woman or man, and the conflict and heartbreak bound up in that hit me hard. The instrumentation and performances accentuate that ache and desire. A desire for someone (maybe ourselves) to be a way they cannot be. – BN

“A Salty Dog” – Procol Harum

Gary Brooker was an amazing pianist and this song features something I’ve tried to achieve on various recordings throughout the years, the piano vignette. A small section removed from everything else that resets the song in a unique way. Like a structured solo, sort of. This is to me one of the most moving songs of the sixties and often still brings me a tear. Same band as “Whiter Shade of Pale,” by the way. – RS

“Bruised Ribs” – Joey Kneiser

I’d been a fan of Joey Kneiser’s band, Glossary, for years and when he released this acoustic solo album I fell in love with it. The straightforward presentation with delicate and thoughtful accompaniment lets the power of his simply perfect lyrics shine through. It doesn’t get much better than this. This album definitely influenced me to write some solo acoustic songs myself. – BN

“Ruby’s Arms” – Tom Waits

It’s difficult to choose one Tom Waits song to show his piano style, having spent decades with his music. His barroom piano voicings and dramatic tempo rises and falls – “Ruby’s Arms” showcases those beautifully and heartbreakingly. – RS

“Living on the Moon” – Adam Faucett

Adam is from Little Rock, Arkansas (like me), and this song is one of my favorites. Again, it goes back to the spaces in between the notes– the choices he made about the sounds we hear. We hear everything we need and nothing we don’t for the ultimate emotional impact. There is a preciseness to the recordings of all the songs on this list that I haven’t been able to capture much in my career. But I love it. And I’m still learning and hopefully there is a little of that on this new Lucero Unplugged album. – BN

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

BGS 5+5: River Kittens

Posted on by Editor

Artist: River Kittens (Mattie Schell and Allie Vogler)
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Newest Album: Soaking Wet

What’s your favorite memory of being on stage?

Well, I have been performing since I was a kid… and there have certainly been some amazing highlights I’ll never forget as an adult (playing Allman Family Revival at the Beacon Theater for one!), but I think the most special for me was a community theater production of The Music Man when I was probably 11 years old. I played Winthrop (a boy part of course… the bowl cut helped), my mom played Mrs. Paroo, my dad played Marcellus Washburn, even my sister and Aunt Janet were in the show. I look back in those memories and think, “Wow, our family was like half of that musical! How cool!” It was a cool thing to share as a family and really made me fall in love with musical theater, which really shaped so much about the kind of performer I have become. Long live Broadway! 😂 — Mattie

One time we were playing this four-hour gig and we were just kinda getting through our songs. It was hot and we felt like we were background music. I was definitely in an auto pilot state. But this lady in the audience starts laughing. She’s laughing at one of our funnier songs, “Dressing on the Side.” It was her first time hearing it and she was cracking up to our lyrics, while I was just deadpan playing the song trying to get through it. Her hilarious reaction quickly brought me back to reality and had me laughing real hard during the rest of the song, and show. Just by laughing she was able to pull me out of a funk and my song probably pulled her out of one too. It was a really genuine, hilarious moment and a good reminder to enjoy playing my songs that I’ve played a thousand times for the people who haven’t heard them before.

Also gotta mention the time I put a praying mantis on my microphone (Missouri outdoor gig) and I went to sing in it and he charged at my face and tried to get me. That was hilarious. — Allie

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

There is nothing better than playing music outdoors. It just feels right. I think I come from a long line of porch-sitting musicians. I know my great-grandfather used to play and dance on the front porch with my grandma and her nine siblings. I have a huge family and we have a gathering called June Jam every year on some farmland in Illinois. Friends and family come from all over and we camp out and potluck and jam into the wee hours of the morning. It’s my favorite time of year. I bought a kayak a few years ago and paddle the Mississippi River quite often. The Mississippi has influenced a lot of my songwriting. I’ve lost friends to that river, I’ve had some of the most memorable family moments on that river, I’ve had countless jams along that river, but it never ceases to fill me with wonder and awe to be out there in the middle of it. It’s incredibly inspiring. — Mattie

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

This is a hard one, but I’ll have to say Paul McCartney. His melodies have been ingrained in my head since childhood. I’m a huge fan of all of his projects and his personality in general. He is such a prolific musician and everything he writes makes me really feel something. RAM is definitely a favorite album. And he just seems so fun loving from all the interviews I’ve seen on the internet. — Allie

Well, although this is a question I get often, it’s always a tough one to answer. It honestly depends on what year it was. Haha But for the sake of brevity, I’ll say The Band. I really dove into their catalog in my early 20s and haven’t seen music the same since. My Uncle Wayne (another huge influence who happened to give me my first mandolin) lent me a copy of Levon’s book This Wheel’s on Fire and it resonated with me and really inspired me. The Band was a group that had some serious talent and killer songwriting that just grabs you, but they never took themselves too seriously. That mentality is always a goal of mine because music should always be fun, especially when it’s good. — Mattie

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I’m working on something for my grandmother, and I have been for a while. She always wanted me to sing, and I want to write the perfect song for her. I do know that when the words come, they’ll pour. There’s a lot of imaginary walls in songwriting, for me anyway. I gotta either climb them or let them fall down, and honestly the lyrics are better when the walls fall down. They’re more like floodgates. — Allie

I wrote a tune based off of a local legend in the area I’m from on the Mississippi River. There is an old house in Alton, Illinois, that was part of the Underground Railroad and it has a massive widow’s peak. There’s a story of the wife of a river boat captain who watched him sail off and when he never returned, she waited for him in that widow’s peak until the day she died. It took me ten years to write that song, because I wanted it to be a little haunting and do the story justice. But then I thought, “What the hell was she waiting for?” So I changed the story up a bit. I wanted better for this woman, I didn’t want her to wait around, I wanted her to take action. I gave her a much happier, purposeful ending and that’s when I was able to finish writing. — Mattie

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

I’ll go get some street tacos and a beer with just about anybody but if I get to choose, I’m takin’ Randy Newman out for crawfish, oysters, and Sandinistas. Then we’re hitting the piano bars. — Allie

Photo courtesy of Big Hassle

LISTEN: Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, & Thomm Jutz, “King of the Keelboat Men”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Eric Brace, Peter Cooper & Thomm Jutz
Song: “King of the Keelboat Men”
Album: Riverland
Label: Red Beet Records
Release Date: February 1, 2019

In Their Words: “When we were looking at the history of the Mississippi River, it was clear that the steamboats were the biggest thing that ever happened to it and on it. But what about before the steamboats? Before steamboats were the keelboats, pushed up and down river by big men with poles. They were the rock stars of their time, from the 1700s til about 1830. The mightiest of the keelboat men was the near-mythic Mike Fink. His tale was told in stories and books and songs of the time, but we wondered what happened to him when steam took away his job. Buy him a drink, and he’ll tell you exactly what happened.” — Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, & Thomm Jutz

Photo credit: Chris Richards

A Minute in New Orleans with Kelcy Mae of Ever More Nest

Posted on by Editor

Welcome to “A Minute In …” — a BGS feature that turns musicians into hometown reporters. In our latest column, Kelcy Mae of Ever More Nest takes us through New Orleans, Louisiana.

Growing up as a curious, imaginative kid in Bible Belt North Louisiana, I knew when I could, I’d seek a land with a little more freeness, more color, and more fun. As soon as I graduated high school, I headed south to New Orleans, which I’ve now called home for half my life. New Orleans’ tricentennial celebration is underway, and with three hundred years of history, every path in the city is a beaten one. But today, I’ll try to take you off the beaten path with a few well known spots as well. – Kelcy Mae

New Orleans City Park

Home to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), City Park consists of 1,300 acres of land that make it easy to forget you’re in the middle of a city. With 800-year-old, sprawling oaks and land both manicured and wild (an overgrown pre-Katrina golf course), the park offers an outdoor experience for everyone. Attractions like NOMA and the Sculpture and Botanical Gardens, Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, bike and boat rentals, mini-golf and sports fields, playgrounds and picnic areas, and running/walking paths allow for hours of entertainment or escape.

“Big Lake” in City Park is a portion of my jog route, made more fun by the ducks, geese, turtles, and occasional pelicans that grace its waters. Big Lake is also home to the famous chime tree, a towering oak filled with giant, mesmerizing wind chimes.

Lola’s

New Orleans has so much good food, you could write about restaurants for days. I’m skipping the usual fare here with a nod to my favorite date-night locale. Lola’s, tucked along Esplanade Avenue in Mid-City is a quaint, unpretentious spot that always lends itself to a delicious meal, which in turn lends itself to great conversation with a date or friends. The strong smell of garlic and butter greets you along Esplanade, thanks to appetizers like the popular garlic and mushrooms. The complimentary warm bread and garlic aioli are also part of the magic. Deservedly famous for its paella, the restaurant offers meat, seafood, and veggie versions of the flavorful, traditional Spanish rice dish in addition to a dozen or so entrees.

Siberia Lounge

What initially began as a sort of hybrid metal bar is now home to a tamer and more versatile music club, bar and restaurant. Along the ever-evolving Saint Claude Corridor, Siberia offers a dim bar decorated with ornate mirrors, large paintings, and some wild, secondhand taxidermy including a ‘40s-era bobcat. The musical lineups run the gamut, but Siberia is notably one of New Orleans’ few bars that play host to local and touring Americana, alt-country, bluegrass, and folk artists. Thursday is always Eastern Bloc Party night, which features local Balkan and Klezmer music. Part of what makes Siberia so special is its kitchen, known for “Slavic Soul food” with highlights like pierogi, stroganoff, golubtsy, and popular vegetarian options like the famous beet reuben.

Chickie Wah Wah

While New Orleans is full of bars that host live music and even a number of large capacity clubs and theaters, one thing it’s short on is listening rooms. Chickie Wah Wah doesn’t operate like your traditional bar, full of TVs and patrons that may or may not tune in to what’s happening on stage. People go to Chickie Wah Wah to hear music and the room delivers with quality sound and vibe. While the venue hosts plenty of traditional, long-time New Orleans performers, you’ll also find quality touring acts. The venue largely plays host to a variety of Louisiana’s comfort-zone roots music genres such as jazz, blues, rock, and honky tonk.

Webb’s Bywater Music

Need something repaired? Need a pack of strings or pair of sticks? Webb’s Bywater Music is an unassuming neighborhood music shop with new and used instruments in addition to accessories. Well regarded, Paul Webb is considered the go-to guy by countless area musicians for their instrument and electronics repairs. The shop has the charming, cluttered vibe of an always-busy mom and pop store, one that lives on thanks to the loyal musicians who prefer quality service from a knowledgeable pro over cheap, corporate rigmarole.

Joey K’s

You can’t talk about New Orleans without naming at least one restaurant known for classic New Orleans fare, be it Creole, Cajun, soul or southern. I have to point out Joey K’s for what I consider a notable feat in a town famous for fried seafood: the best fry batter around. Of course the gumbo’s great. And you’ll always see a number of New Orleans’ finest hitting the stewed chicken, the white beans with a fried pork chop, or any number of daily specials. But my favorite is hands-down the fried catfish. The onion rings are heavenly—the best ever. You can’t go wrong with the fried chicken or shrimp, either.

Port Orleans Brewing

Port Orleans Brewing Company is one of many local craft breweries that have opened across the city in the last decade. Located on Tchoupitoulas Street, near the actual Port of New Orleans, Port Orleans makes my list for its bright, airy tasting room and easy-to-drink brews. Massive windows behind the bar showcase the impressive 30-barrel brewing area. On cool days, the tap room opens up its front wall, bringing the outdoors in. My favorite flagship beers include the Riverfront Lager and the Slackwater Brown Ale. Of course they’ve got great pale ales, India pale ales, and stouts. They even offer Mexican-style lagers, the Dorada and Negra Dorada. Variety is the spice of life, and variety abounds on tap at the brewery.

The Bombay Club

New Orleans is known for being a boozy city, and one of the benefits to living here is easy access to a quality cocktail. The Bombay Club is tucked away in the French Quarter, hidden under the Prince Conti Hotel. Entering the bar and restaurant requires a short stroll through the hotel’s parking garage, so it’s fitting that the dark, English-style pub feels a bit underground. Martinis are the focus at the Bombay Club, but you can expect an expertly crafted traditional New Orleans drink like a Pimm’s Cup or Sazerac as well. With an affordable snack-focused happy hour and a solid dinner menu, it’s a nice hideaway in what can be an otherwise very pricey and noisy French Quarter. Solo pianists and jazz duos appear nightly.

Mississippi River

Whether you’re chilling with locals at “The Fly” (Uptown) and Crescent Park (Bywater) or you’re strolling alongside tourists at the downtown riverfront, you can’t help but marvel at the waterway that breathed life into this region three hundred years ago. The Mississippi River is a behemoth of a river. Sitting beside its rushing waters will strike fear and wonder into anyone, a humbling experience to say the least. Watching the river barges piloting turns piled high with shipping containers will make you question what’s humanly possible in this world. Locals and visitors can enjoy the view from the various parks or by purchasing a ride on one of the paddle wheelers that offer a tour downriver. Touching ten states, the Mississippi River’s watershed drains all or parts of 31 states. That’s a lot water moving through New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Lake Pontchartrain

Across town from the river views are views of Lake Ponchartrain. Made famous in a variety of folk songs, Lake Ponchartrain is a massive lake, forty miles wide, of brackish water that’s frighteningly home to both alligators and bull sharks. On Wednesday nights from March through November, you can watch or take part in sailboat races put on by the New Orleans Yacht Club. The lake offers a great view to accompany a dozen oysters on the half-shell at Felix’s, Blue Crab, or Landry’s. Grabbing a bite near the yacht club or sitting along the banks of the lake is great for people watching, bird watching, boat watching—you name it. Water views make everything better. But maybe it’s just the Pisces in me.

Tickfaw State Park

Just on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain, about an hour’s drive outside of New Orleans is Tickfaw State Park. Though smaller and less recently updated than some of Louisiana’s other state parks, Tickfaw offers something many of the other parks don’t: easy boat access to calm waterways full of magnificent bayou wildlife like alligators, turtles, snakes, egrets, blue herons, and butterflies. The calm, manageable canoe trail out to the oft-slow Tickfaw River gives you an opportunity to leisurely stroll by canoe or kayak through gorgeous, albeit murky, South Louisiana waterways. For hikers, the park offers a three-mile river trail in addition to over a mile’s worth of boardwalk trails, but wear your boots—the park often detains floodwaters when rains overflow the Tickfaw River banks.

Travel photos by Kelcy Wilburn, except Port Orleans Brewing by Bill Loehfelm
Photo of Kelcy Mae by Summer Dorr