Queen of the Bayou brings sultry sounds to ST94

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Queen of the Bayou brings sultry sounds to ST94
March 10, 2010
By Felice Rubin
Montgomery Media




It may still be chilly outside, but a warm trend is on the way, as pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, known as “Queen of the Bayou, Boogie and Blues,” descends on Sellersville Theater 1894 on Tuesday, March 16.

Ball’s music is an infectious mix of simmering soul fervor and two-fisted piano-pounding. Her music features deeply emotive vocals and incisive and often poignant songwriting. Over the course of her three-decade career, Ball has won several prestigious blues awards plus a Grammy for her recent album “Peace, Love and BBQ.”

Born into a musical family, Ball began playing piano at age 5, and showed an early interest in New Orleans-style piano-playing, as exemplified by Fats Domino, Professor Longhair and James Booker. She has named Irma Thomas, the New Orleans vocalist, as her chief vocal inspiration.

Ball entered Louisiana State University in the late 1960s as an English major. In college, she played in a psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll band called Gum. In 1970, at age 21, she started a progressive country band called Freda and the Firedogs in Austin, Texas, and began her solo career in 1974.

Ball is known for her piano style, which shows elements of zydeco, swamp blues, Louisiana blues and boogie woogie. She began her recording career as a solo artist with Rounder Records in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 2001, she joined Chicago-based Alligator Records.

Ball said this is her first time to the Sellersville Theater and that people who come to her shows can expect“a lot of high energy, happy, danceable, foot-tapping, makes-you-want-to-get-up-and-dance music!”

Living in Austin, Ball said she is surrounded by talented musicians. “Since the ’70s’ it has been spotlighted as the starting point for one musical genre trend after another, each of which are equally as creative and inventive,” she said.

Ball said she personally enjoys the music of Eric Clapton, Van Morrison “and, of course, the Louisiana icons like Leon Russell and Dr. Hook.” Ball said she spends about half the year traveling and playing venues.

“On average we play about 125 gigs per year, plus travel time in between.” Ball added that she has no intention of stopping anytime soon, “No musician wants to retire; we all want to keep playing and die onstage — a really big stage where we are headlining,” she added jokingly.

Her Rounder album “Sing It!,” which also features vocalists Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson, released in January 1998, was nominated for both a Grammy Award and a Blues Music Award as “Best Contemporary Blues Album.” Ball also received the 1998 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year” and “Best Blues Instrumentalist-Keyboards.”

In 2002 she won “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” for her album “Presumed Innocent.” She won the “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” in 2004 for her album “So Many Rivers,” the same year she won “Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year-Female.” She won the Best Blues Instrumentalist-Keyboards again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.

Her 2003 Alligator release “So Many Rivers” was nominated for a Grammy, as was her 2005 release, “Live! Down the Road” and her 2008 release “Peace, Love & BBQ.” She was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1990.

Ball will be joined by special guests the Honey Island Swamp Band.

“We have played some of the same venues before and I am excited to play the same place with them again,” Ball said.

Great music begins with great songs, and great songs are what the Honey Island Swamp Band is all about. The band came together after Aaron Wilkinson (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Chris Mule (electric guitar, vocals) were marooned in San Francisco after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and had a chance encounter with fellow New Orleans evacuees Sam Price (bass, vocals) and Garland Paul (drums, vocals).

Their six-song eponymous EP was recorded in 2006 at famed studio The Plant in Sausalito, Calif., and was received so well that they all decided to continue the band upon moving back to New Orleans in late 2006. 2008 brought a growth of opportunity for the band, honored with performances at the Krewe Du Vieux Mardi Gras Ball and the legendary Tipitina’s Uptown. In April 2009, the band released its first full-length album.