Jackson and the Janks, we started in a living room in New Orleans. Piano and guitar playing old gospel songs and trying to make a dance band. First there were two, then a third came in to use the bathroom – he was living in his van out front at the time. He sat down and played along after nature’s call. Over a year it grew from there, adding bass, saxophone, and steel guitar. We started playing shows in New Orleans, sweaty dance shows, and we didn’t have a name other than “the garage gospel band” (officially, Sam Doores’ Garage Gospel Band). We’ve branched out now and adopted New York janks into the family.
The Janks as a name came up, describing all things Janky. An old time, do-it-yourself way of playing, inspired by New Orleans R&B, rock and roll, honky tonk, and of course the sacred songs.
This playlist is a mix of sounds that influence the sentiments of Jackson and the Janks. Rollicking dance music, garage band approach, songs of love and lost love, sweet and sour, irreverent. – Jackson Lynch, Jackson and the Janks
“My Journey To The Sky” – Sister Rosetta Tharpe
There’s something wrong if Sister Rosetta is not in the conversation. True muse and queen progenitor of rock and roll, she kills me with her gospel.
“Rockin’ Bicycle” – Fats Domino
The great Fats Domino. I picked this because it inspires an approach to songwriting that gets overlooked. Have fun with the lyrical content and make fun music.
“Unchained Melody” – The Fleetwoods
I don’t take baths, but listening to this tempts me to try it out. The harmonies do it to me. My favorite version of this song.
“No More Tear Stained Makeup” – Martha & the Vandellas
This one has that lyricism and rhyme that I love. Taking a simple theme and so cleverly making it heartbreaking, don’t see it coming. Smokey Robinson at his best.
“Young Boy Blues” – Snooks Eaglin
New Orleans for real songster Snooks Eaglin played everything. Country blues, jazz, and pop songs of his day. That’s the job: play what people want to hear, do it good, and make it your own.
“Let’s Leave Here” – Jackson and the Janks
It’s about trying to not be the last one at a party that’s going under. Nothing’s happening, but you gotta leave before something does. “Gates are dropped, the service stopped, at the shop on the corner…”
“I Got Loaded” – Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band
This is a great zydeco version of a swamp-pop party song. Keith Frank (son of the famed Preston Frank) and his whole family make some of the best music I’ve ever had the privilege to dance to.
“Sweet Nothin’s” – Brenda Lee
Sugar, spice, everything nice.
“Sitting on my front porch, well do I love you? Of course,” Brenda growls and tucks me in.
“Who Will The Next Fool Be” – Charlie Rich
This speaks for itself. Just listen to how Charlie Rich sings the word “Who.”
“Life Is Too Short” – Benny Spellman
A great ballad deep cut from the man who gave us that deep voice on “Mother In Law.” Operatic. ”
We do big things in a hurry/ Let’s do what’s right to live…”
“Immigration Blues” – Duke Ellington
This secular hymn is my favorite shit. Early Duke’s orchestrated pieces like this make me regret and hope, sad and happy.
The accordion is like a cousin you don’t see very often, but who is an integral, colorful member of the family. In country, folk, bluegrass and related roots music from the U.S., the accordion has always been there, more of a presence than you might think. It’s central to styles such as zydeco, Cajun, and conjunto music, but also many foundational bluegrass and country artists – such as Bill Monroe and the Carter Family – used accordion in their music at times. The accordion was in the environment, part of the sound world of mid-20th-century popular music, adding a special touch to bands of all kinds. Although it did not continue to flourish as a central bluegrass or country instrument, there’s no musical reason for that absence: it fits right into the sound. Whether playing rhythm or lead, it can be versatile, punchy, and expressive.
If country music is our unifying theme here, the accordion makes a great lens for viewing the vast diversity of the genre and its extensive family tree: Tejano-conjunto accordion playing, with its polka and Spanish origins and its two-beat and waltz rhythms, is a natural fit with country; zydeco and Cajun music overlap with it seamlessly; Western Swing bands, which merged jazz and country, often included accordionists from the Midwest with Central or Eastern European backgrounds. Of course, the impact of African American blues, swing, and jazz is so strong in all these styles that it’s more than just an “influence” – really a foundation. Jewish klezmer music is also a branch of the “roots music” tree; it came from Europe and developed in the U.S., absorbing many of the same influences as the other genres while making great use of the accordion. – Will Holshouser
“Together Again” – Steve Jordan
The incredible Esteban “Steve” Jordan grew up playing conjunto music in Texas and expanded his repertoire to include country, Latin music, rock, zydeco and more. He was known as “El Parche” for the patch he wore over his blind eye and also as the “Jimi Hendrix of the accordion,” since he played through an effects pedal (flanger or phaser). On his version of this Buck Owens tune, he plays many roles brilliantly: lead vocals, accordion solo, fills and accompaniment.
“J’ai Eté-Z-Au Bal” – Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys
Steve Riley is one of the finest Cajun accordionists working today; this blistering version of a classic Cajun tune (“I Went to the Dance”) shows his virtuosity, the Cajun (diatonic) accordion in a lead role, and his band’s deep groove.
“Tennessee Waltz” – Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys
Pee Wee King was born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski to a Polish-American family in Wisconsin. He learned accordion from his father, who played in a polka band, and went on to become a famous Western Swing bandleader and write the music for this country classic. His beautiful, single-reed accordion fills and moving thirds sound totally country, while revealing a Slavic touch.
“Blues de Basile” – Amédé Ardoin
Amédé Ardoin made some of the very first accordion records in Louisiana and is a common musical ancestor of all zydeco and Cajun accordion playing. His innovative, rhythmic, virtuosic accordion style and haunting vocals won him a great reputation both inside and outside his Afro-Creole community. He often played dances and made records with his close musical partner, Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee, including “Blues de Basile” in 1930. His life ended tragically when he was beaten by white vigilantes.
“Hard to Love Someone” – Clifton Chenier
Known as the King of the Bayous, Chenier brought together southwestern Louisiana zydeco rhythms and Delta blues. On this slow blues tune recorded in 1970, his fluid improvising and support of his own singing is nothing short of glorious. His brother Cleveland Chenier plays the rubboard.
“Bluegrass Special” – Bill Monroe (with Sally Ann Forrester)
Most people know that Bill Monroe defined the classic bluegrass sound. Some may not know that an early version of his band, The Blue Grass Boys, included a Blue Grass Girl, Wilene “Sally Ann” Forrester, on accordion. Her solid rhythm playing and all-too-short accordion break add warmth to this early instrumental, a 12-bar blues. If things had worked out just a little differently, maybe every bluegrass band today would include an accordion! (Hey, it’s not too late, folks.)
“Root, Hog or Die” – Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters (with Helen Carter)
Later in her life, Mother Maybelle Carter of the iconic Carter Family had a long performing career with her daughters. The group featured Helen Carter playing great accordion and often Chet Atkins on guitar. Here, too, the influence of swing and blues is readily apparent. “Root, hog, or die” is an old expression that means “you’re on your own.”
“Alon Kouri Laba” – Corey Ledet Zydeco
Corey Ledet, one of today’s most exciting zydeco accordionists, plays beautifully and sings in Louisiana Creole on this high-energy tune from his album Médikamen (2023).
“American Without Tears” – Elvis Costello (with Jo-El Sonnier)
Accordionist Jo-El Sonnier brings his sensitive touch and gorgeous Cajun waltz style to this song from Elvis Costello’s album King of America. (Rock producers and engineers, please take note: this is where an accordion should be in the mix – loud enough that it can breathe dynamically and find its place among the other instruments.)
“Shouting Song” – Will Holshouser
Here’s a tune from my new album, The Lone Wild Bird. I wrote “Shouting Song” with the sound of shape note singing in mind. This is a choral tradition in the rural U.S., mostly in the South, with a unique sound: shape note composers ignored (or just didn’t know about) many European harmonic rules which disallowed features like parallel fifths and chords with only two notes. Along with influences from various folk traditions and camp meeting spirituals, that stark approach to harmony gives the style its sound, which I use here as a point of departure.
“Un Mojado Sin Licensia” – Flaco Jimenez
The creative genius of the great Flaco Jimenez is on full display in this conjunto song about the hardships faced by a Mexican immigrant in Texas. His rhythmic drive, melodic inventiveness, and roller-coaster chromatic runs are thrilling to the ears.
“Streets of Bakersfield” – Dwight Yoakam (with Flaco Jimenez)
Here’s Flaco again, on a recording that went to the top of the country charts in 1988. This song was written by Homer Joy, first recorded by Buck Owens in 1972, and re-done here by Dwight Yoakam with both Buck and Flaco as guest stars.
“Spadella” – Spade Cooley (with Pedro DePaul)
Accordionist and arranger Larry “Pedro” DePaul grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied music at the Hungarian Conservatory. Spade Cooley, originally from Oklahoma, was a popular Western Swing bandleader in the LA area. There’s a grisly tale behind this tune: Cooley wrote it for his wife Ella, who he was convicted of murdering in 1961.
“Second Avenue Square Dance” – Dave Tarras with the Abe Ellstein Orchestra
Any discussion of the accordion in American roots music should include klezmer, Eastern European Jewish music that came to the U.S. and absorbed influences such as the drum kit, certain jazz band formats, etc. On this tune the great clarinetist Dave Tarras plays the lead, but the anonymous accordionist is heard prominently, playing beautiful fills and rhythm, harmonizing with the melody, and using rich chords to blend with the horns. Second Avenue in Manhattan was the epicenter of the Yiddish theater scene, which had a huge impact on Broadway. The title could be just a lark, or a nod to the musical kinship between klezmer and country music!
“Atlantic City” – The Band (with Garth Hudson)
Garth Hudson’s adventurous playing with The Band carved out a role for the accordion in that kind of rock music. (He also played the horizontal keyboards: organ, etc.) I had the thrill of meeting him when we both played on Martha Wainwright’s live Edith Piaf tribute album (Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers à Paris). Unfortunately, the producers had us playing on different tunes, not at the same time! On this cover of a Bruce Springsteen song, recorded in 1993, Garth creates a fantasy using multi-tracked layers of accordion and organ.
This is Sarah Quintana, singer/guitarist in Michael Doucet’s new solo project, Lâcher-Prise, and I love being a tourist in my own hometown, New Orleans. Michael and I met one Mardi Gras day, following a brass band through the French Quarter. Music is everywhere! Cajun and zydeco dancing, good Creole cooking and historic scenes. Here are some of our favourite places to perform, shop and eat!
Michael loves to go to Cane and Table on Decatur for his favourite Cuban cocktail, the Hotel Nacionale. Marjie’s Grill on N. Broad is one of his favourite places to eat. I sing for the Sunday Brunches at Emeril’s Delmonico. The atmosphere, the menu and the live music make this one of the best dining experiences in New Orleans.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8RvvybFMHj/
One of our favourite clubs to play at and go dancing is d.b.a. on Frenchman Street. They have a wood floor series in the early evening that is acoustic and magic, dance lessons, lots of craft beer and rocking late-night shows. Need a coffee fix? Spitfire Coffee in the French Quarter is Michael’s favourite espresso bar.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9KB0eIl9_8/
Water here, Water there! My favourite neighborhood is Bayou St. John in Mid-City. Get your tour of frontier New Orleans by boat! Book a Kayak tour from Kayakitiyat! If you go on a gallery art walk down Royal Street in the French Quarter, stop by Antieau Gallery to see the artist who created our cover art for our album.
Record Store Day is right around the corner, which means the vinyl geeks among us are getting ready for what might as well be called Christmas in April. New releases, exclusive LPs, free swag … Record Store Day has it all, and we want it all.
One of the cooler releases on that April 22 holiday is a special Dolly Parton 45 rpm featuring “Puppy Love,” the first song the country legend ever recorded at the young age of 13. Paired with another Parton rarity, “Girl Left Alone,” the “Puppy Love” single is the first release from a new partnership between Yep Roc Records and the Southern Folklife Collection.
An endeavor nearly four years in the making, the project will make some of the Southern Folklife Collection’s available in both physical and digital form, with production and distribution handled by Yep Roc. The music is culled from Southern Folklife’s massive archives, housed at the organization’s home base of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We were putting on a tribute to Reverend Gary Davis, and Glen and Billy from Yep Roc came to the event,” Steven Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection, explained. “We started talking about the possibility of doing something, and it grew from there.”
As Weiss explained, there are over 250,000 sound recordings currently housed in the collection’s archives. So far, Southern Folklife and Yep Roc have plans for three releases from those thousands, and left it up to Weiss to choose which pieces would make the final cut. In addition to the first release from Parton, the partnership will release a Cajun/zydeco compilation called Swampland Jewels on September 22 and a live album from Doc Watson either late this year or early in 2018.
“Some of them are things that have been in the back of our minds, in terms of projects that we’ve wanted to do for a number of years, that seemed like they would have commercial appeal,” Weiss says of the Yep Roc albums. “Two of the records are from Goldband Records, which is a record company whose collection is here. That’s a small, independent record company out of Lake Charles, Louisiana, that started after World War II. They were the first ones to record Dolly Parton. They recorded her when she was 13 years old, a song called ‘Puppy Love.’ That was her first single.”
While the Dolly Parton single is about to hit stores, Weiss is still at work on Swampland Jewels, the songs for which he is curating himself. Songs by Boozoo Chavis, Cleveland Crochet, Iry LeJune, Jr., and Jo-El Sonnier will be part of that package. “It’s like a greatest hits compilation of Cajun and zydeco musicians who recorded for the label,” Weiss says. “Those range from the 1960s probably into the ‘80s.”
The final offering in the first trio of albums from the partnership is a special one — a live performance by Doc Watson recorded at Club 47 in Cambridge, Masschusetts, in 1963. Several of the songs included on the album are otherwise unreleased.
“That just came to my attention within the last year,” Weiss says of the Watson record. “It was donated to the collection. It’s just so exceptional that we thought there was an audience for it, and that it fills a particular niche, as well as being a really nice addition to Doc’s catalog.”
So far, those three albums are the only projects with firm release schedules, though Weiss does note that there will be more albums coming from the partnership in the future, including an album by little known string band the Bluegrass Champs. “Some of the Stonemen family were in that group,” Weiss says. “They were basically teenage kids playing on the bluegrass circuit, playing small country music parks. This is a live performance from one of those parks. It’s just a really nice performance. They were a really high-powered group, and I don’t think there are too many recordings of them.”
Artist: Shinyribs Hometown: Austin, TX Song: “Don’t Leave It a Lie” Album:I Got Your Medicine Release Date: February 24, 2017
In Their Words: “The only rule one ever really needs is the Golden Rule. We all lie to ourselves and each other. That’s alright, as long as you don’t leave it that way. Be you, but be true. Always come back to love and honesty.” — Kevin Russell
Photo credit: Wyatt McSpadden
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.