"PRESERVATION" reviewed in All About Jazz!

Preservation Hall Jazz Band:
PRESERVATION
by Wade Liguet

What do you get when you cross America's best traditional jazz band with 20 emerging or legendary musical artists? You get a terrific collection of highly listenable traditional jazz performances by a highly improbable combination of musicians and vocalists. Who would have thought to have Del McCoury sing "After You've Gone" with his heavy country twang? Or Tom Waits' raspy voice on "Tootie Ma Was a Big Fine Thing"? If you are Ben Jaffe—tuba player, creative director and son of Preservation Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe, and grew up in the hall—this might seem, as Jaffe states in the liner notes, a natural fit. For the rest of us, it is a surprise, and a real treat.

Jaffe made a wish-list of performers whom he hoped would come to New Orleans to play with the band. Surprisingly, they all agreed to do so. He showed them around the city and then brought them to the warm confines of Preservation Hall to record with the band. The result is an album that will have widespread appeal, as performers known by the young—Andrew Bird, Yim Yames, Jason Isbell, Ani DeFranco, Cory Chisel, Paolo Nutini, Angelique Kidjo, Brandi Carlisle and Amy LaVere—share the CD with performers known by folk and rock music fans—Waits, Pete Seeger, Dr. John, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Richie Havens. Country music fans are catered for too, by Merle Haggard, McCoury, Steve Earle and Buddy Miller. Louis Armstrong even makes an appearance with extracted voicings on "Rocking Chair." All the performers are accompanied by the incomparable Preservation Hall Jazz Band—a group of musicians who are, no doubt about it, the best New Orleans has to offer in the traditional music genre.

The album elicits feelings of both joy and bemusement. Joy because that is what traditional jazz creates when played by some of its greatest musicians, and bemusement because of the pairing of some great singers and musicians with the band. Andrew Bird brings his skillful violin playing, as well as a voice with great range, to "Shake It And Break It." Tom Waits' craggy voicings on the Mardi Gras-tinged "Tootie Ma Was A Big Fine Thing" is just plain fun. Merle Haggard's version of "Basin Street Blues" skillfully joins a country voice and jazz in a surprisingly pleasant rendition of this old standard. Richie Havens sings a hauntingly beautiful blues ballad on "Trouble in Mind" with banjo and the horn section playing beautifully in the background. Preservation Hall vocalist Clint Maedgen performs with the Blind Boys of Alabama on the fired-up gospel tune "There Is a Light" behind the powerful organ playing of the hall's pianist Rickie Monie. Each of the tunes on this album deserves a comment, but more than that, each deserves a listen.

Preservation is released as a benefit album to support Preservation Hall and its Music Outreach Program. The album will also benefit traditional jazz in general. As younger generations shun jazz for hip hop, country and independent music, how will jazz lure listeners? How will a century old (and counting) music form stay fresh? Ben Jaffe and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band have created something brilliant with this album. They have kept the jazz traditional, and have brought in popular artists to collaborate with them. This album will no doubt have cross-over appeal. It is something that both young and old listeners should enjoy, be they country, rock or jazz fans. In that sense, the disc, as the title implies, is a preservation of all that is good about traditional jazz, while at the same time being an ambassador to a new generation of fans.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE!

PURCHASE "PRESERVATION!"

"PRESERVATION" in USA Today!

A 'Preservation' CD for New Orleans' Preservation Hall

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
February 16, 2010

Angelique Kidjo, Paolo Nutini, Brandi Carlile and Andrew Bird aren't typically linked to the roots of New Orleans music, but they jumped at the chance to preserve them.

Preservation, a benefit compilation released today to coincide with Mardi Gras, finds the Preservation Hall Jazz Band recording songs with diverse contributors ranging from Tom Waits, Pete Seeger and Richie Havens to Merle Haggard, Blind Boys of Alabama and Buddy Miller, plus native sons Terence Blanchard and Dr. John. The project aims to sustain the city's struggling historic Preservation Hall and ancillary music outreach program.

A Spanish tavern in the 1800s, Preservation Hall opened in 1961, establishing a humble jazz spot with no running water or air conditioning and a few benches for patrons. Only its pedigree has seen upgrades.

"A lot of people don't care about the past," says participant Jim James, singer/guitarist of My Morning Jacket. "They'd bulldoze the Notre Dame to build a parking lot if it made more money. So much great music came up in Preservation Hall, and people sometimes forget to trace the roots, to realize what you wouldn't have today without those roots."

Recording under the moniker Yim Yames, James and the PHJB recorded Fats Waller's Louisiana Fairytale, one of 19 New Orleans classics (25 on the deluxe edition). James was so enthralled by the experience that he invited the band to be the opening act on Jacket's upcoming tour.

"New Orleans is on fire with ghosts and energy," he says. "It's a sacred place, and we have to stand up and help out."

The hall "to this day limps along to survive," says Ben Jaffe, the hall's artistic director, its band's tuba player and son of the French Quarter landmark's founder. "It's given our country so much joy and been so central to the (post-Katrina) rebuilding process. We've been the cheerleaders for this community."

Jaffe, who produced Preservation to raise both money and recognition, says, "How do you portray a city known for beer, booze and beads in a new light, the regal tradition of New Orleans jazz? Sometimes, we've had to fight for respect."

He found no shortage of respect from artists he petitioned. "Originally, I wondered if anyone would want to do another favor for New Orleans," Jaffe says. "But immediately, everyone said yes, I want to be in that number."

Why save this storied hole in the wall? Jaffe watched several Preservation guests beam as they entered the drafty hall for the first time.

"As the world changes and people are more connected to the Internet and technology, organic places like Preservation Hall, where you can smell the history, become much more valuable. You're not re-creating it at an amusement park."

PURCHASE PRESERVATION HERE!

"PRESERVATION" In American Songwriter

Preservation Hall Tribute Album Boasts All-Star Cast
By Matt Popkin on February 18th, 2010

1500 grammar school kids are up in the aisles dancing and stomping their feet. When the music stops, they beg and plead for one more song, just one more song, please! The type of music that’s got them so worked up? Not hip-hop. Not rock. Why, it’s not even a little bit Top 40.

It’s…jazz?

If you’re surprised by the kids’ response to music that’s older than their grandparents, maybe you shouldn’t be. Ben Jaffe sure isn’t.

“That’s what I think is so great about New Orleans music. Over all these decades, it’s still entertaining.”

Not only is Jaffe the owner of Preservation Hall, the famed jazz club, but he’s also the tuba player in the legendary house band, which has played such notable venues—grammar schools excluded—as Saturday Night Live and Carnegie Hall. Oh, and Jaffe grew up hanging around the historic venue, which isn’t surprising considering his father and mother were the ones who founded it.


So when he says that the new Preservation Hall benefit album is “spectacular,” you can probably take him at his word. “I don’t think we could’ve made a better album,” said Jaffe. “It was that way because everyone did the album for the right reasons.”

“Everyone” includes artists such as Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Louis Armstrong and Merle Haggard, who all contributed to the nineteen-track album full of jazz staples that’s being released February 16th. All the songs were recorded with the house band and at Preservation Hall, which is located right off Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. The jazz club takes a no-frills approach—there’s no dance floor or food or drink served inside—and puts the focus squarely on the music, drawing standing-room only crowds most of the nights it’s open.

However, just a few years ago, there was some doubt as to if the crowds would ever return. When Hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005, Preservation Hall was severely damaged and stayed closed for months before its triumphant reopening on its 45th anniversary in April of 2006. When asked about what New Orleans was like post-hurricane, Jaffe says, “I had this fear of the scene coming back differently and not having the people there who gave it its color...”

FULL ARTICLE HERE!

BUY PRESERVATION HERE!

"PRESERVATION" Preview #19: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their upcoming benefit album - MR. MERLE HAGGARD!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

MERLE HAGGARD
from answers.com
Fiercely independent and loaded with down-home credibility, Merle Haggard has been a country music star since the mid-1960s. His upbringing in Bakersfield, California as a post-Depression, Oklahoma transplant is the stuff of legends: Raised in a boxcar (his dad worked for the railroad), he spent his youth getting into trouble and running away from home. His unruly behavior eventually ended with a stint in San Quentin prison for burglary (1958-60). Haggard worked on his music in jail, and after his release he landed jobs performing in night clubs and playing bass for Wynn Stewart. He then became part of Bakersfield's growing music scene and began his recording career singing duets with Bonnie Owens (the ex-wife of country star Buck Owens). In 1965 he released his first big label album, The Strangers, the title taken from his hit single, "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers" (The Strangers is also the name of his long-time backing band). In the last half of the 1960s Haggard emerged as one of country music's biggest stars, recording ballads and honky-tonk hits including "The Fugitive," "Mama Tried" and "Workin' Man Blues." His 1969 single "Okie From Muskogee," a good-natured slap at hippie-influenced pop culture, was a crossover hit and Haggard made headlines as a symbol for love-it-or-leave-it America (the attention helped get him an invitation to play for Richard Nixon at the White House).

"Hag" has established himself in the country music world as a talented musician (fiddle and guitar), a gifted vocalist and an influential songwriter -- all capped off by a turbulent personal life that adds to his reputation as an ornery individualist. He's known for paying tribute to traditional country music (1970's A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World: Bob Wills), as well as appealing to crowds beyond country music's typical audience (in 2005 he announced a tour with Bob Dylan). His recordings include: "The Fightin' Side of Me"; Poncho and Lefty, an album of duets with Willie Nelson; "The Way I Am" (from the Clint Eastwood movie Bronco Billy); "I Think I'll Stay Here and Drink"; and "That's the News," a commentary on the media's coverage of war in Iraq.

In 1972 the governor of California, Ronald Reagan, granted Haggard a full pardon.

THE SONG:
"Basin Street Blues"
Merle Haggard with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Spencer Williams) MPL Music Publishing, Inc.

Merle Haggard - vocal
Mark Braud - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Rickie Monie - piano
Ben Jaffe - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums

Merle Haggard appears courtesy of Hag Records

AS PERFORMED BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG IN 1959:

HAG PERFORMS HIS HIT "MAMA TRIED" in 1968:

MERLE HAGGARD - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

"PRESERVATION" Prreview #18: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their upcoming benefit album - MR. LOUIS ARMSTRONG!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

LOUIS ARMSTRONG
from biographyshelf.com
Known for his brilliant improvisation techniques both onstage and during recordings, Louis Armstrong became one of the Jazz movement’s most important musicians. As his trumpet would cease, his voice would shine. Able to perform and improvise with his voice as much as with his trumpet, he laid the foundation for a long-lasting, ideal and charismatic career.

Born into the poverty of southern Louisiana, young Louis listened to music whenever he had the chance. The first instrument he learned to play was the brass cornet, which he obtained thanks to a small loan from another family. He even played in a few southern get-togethers and was astonished by the playing of Joe King Oliver, who was Armstrong’s early inspiration.

By his latter teenage years, Louis Armstrong moved to Chicago to play with Oliver – where Jazz was hot and the hottest band was Oliver’s. In these early and influential years, he was even a part of the band’s recordings, where one can easily hear Armstrong’s back-up cornet and snippets where Louis would be given a solo.

As the Chicago experience came and went, Armstrong saw greater opportunity in New York, where he would play the trumpet with the biggest Jazz band of the day, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. After his success in New York, Armstrong headed back to his beloved Chicago where he began recording his own songs – an eclectic mix of Jazz music. His first hits were Potato Head Blues, West End Blues and later in his career, he released Hello, Dolly, which topped the British charts followed by the charts in the U.S.

In 1929, Armstrong toured Europe and had profound success. When he came back to the United States, he relentlessly toured for the next three decades. He released such hits as What a Wonderful World, Stardust, and the catchy Dream a Little Dream of Me. His gregarious attitude and wide grin aided him during his onstage performances. People of all backgrounds loved his music. And, while no official autobiography was ever released, the development of his vocal recordings only caused his success to mushroom beyond his creative brass talents where everyone would recognize his distinct sound.

SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Rockin' Chair"
(Hoagy Carmichael) Songs of Peer, LTD

Louis Armstrong - vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Rickie Monie - piano
Joe Lastie - drums

Louis Armstrong appears courtesy of CMG

About the track:

"...engineer Earl Scioneaux used an old recording of Louis Armstrong singing, a recording where the band was fairly low in the mix. When the Preservation Hall musicians recorded the song Rocking Chair, they did it in the tempo of the original recording that Armstrong did, and then Earl Scioneaux used his years of engineering skills to nudge the Louis Armstrong vocals right into the right places. He had to lose some of the trumpet that overlapped the voice until it sounds just right... and it does."

~Bob Boilen
All Songs Considered

AS PERFORMED BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG WITH JACK TEAGARDEN:

HEAR "ROCKIN' CHAIR" ON NPR'S ALL SONGS CONSIDERED

PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

A Special Performance Celebrating "PRESERVATION!" (02.15.10)

Hey, Jazz Fans!

Are you going to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras? If so, we've got a special treat just for you! While the rest of the country has to wait for Fat Tuesday to purchase their very own copy of PRESERVATION, record stores here in The Crescent City will be putting them on sale a day early.

Make sure to be at the Borders on St. Charles and Louisiana at noon on Lundi Gras day for a special FREE performance from Ben Jaffe, Joe Lastie, Charlie Gabriel, and Clint Maedgen of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band celebrating the release of this amazing benefit album. It's a great time to celebrate a great cause with the purchase of a great recording. DON'T MISS OUT!

"PRESERVATION" Preview #17: Appearing with PHJB on their upcoming benefit album - MS. BRANDI CARLILE!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

BRANDI CARLILE
by Mark Deming
for AllMusic.com

A gifted singer/songwriter whose rich voice and literate storytelling belie her youth (she was only 23 when she released her major-label debut), Brandi Carlile was born in the small town of Ravensdale, WA, an isolated community 50 miles from Seattle. With few neighbors or friends nearby, Carlile grew up learning to make her own entertainment, camping and hiking in the nearby woods and teaching herself to sing. Carlile grew up listening to the classic country music her parents doted on (Patsy Cline remains Carlile's favorite singer), and she made her stage debut at the age of eight after she was taken to a local country radio show by her mother. At 17, Carlile picked up the guitar, having developed a taste for rock & roll through Elton John's classic albums of the 1970s (she cites Tumbleweed Connection as a particular favorite), and she began hitting the Seattle bar scene, playing anywhere she could get a gig (including a stint singing backup for an Elvis Presley tribute act). While playing clubs, she encountered a band called the Fighting Machinists, featuring twin brothers Tim Hanseroth on guitar and Phil Hanseroth. Impressed by their instrumental skills and spot-on harmonies, Carlile became an instant fan of the Fighting Machinists, and when the group broke up, she persuaded the Hanseroth twins to form a group with her. While they started out as an aggressive rock & roll band, Carlile's emotionally powerful songwriting and acoustic guitar work soon became the dominant component of their sound, and they began touring regularly, headlining small venues and opening shows for Dave Matthews, Shawn Colvin, and India.Arie. In 2000, Carlile recorded the first of several self-released recordings that sold briskly at shows, and in 2005 she was signed to Columbia Records, releasing a self-titled album later that same year. The album earned enthusiastic reviews, and Carlile was named one of 2005's "Artists to Watch" by Rolling Stone. In 2006, Carlile and her band began work on her second Columbia album, with T Bone Burnett producing. Titled The Story, it was released in spring 2007. Give Up the Ghost followed two years later in 2009.

SESSION PHOTO BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Old Rugged Cross"
Brandi Carlile & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Traditional)

Brandi Carlile - lead vocals
Tim & Phil Hanseroth - backing vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - clarinet
Daniel "Weenie" Farrow - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Walter Payton - string bass
Rickie Monie - piano
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Joe Lastie - drums

Brandi Carlile appears courtesy of Columbia Records

AS INTERPRETED BY GEORGE LEWIS (1962):

"DREAMS," BY BRANDI CARLILE, LIVE IN STUDIO Q:

BRANDI CARLILE - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

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CD Review: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, “Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall” (popdose.com)

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

by Jeff Giles
for popdose.com

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has always been rooted in tradition, and at this point, the group is a tradition itself — to the point that quite a few of its albums are compilations with the kind of sepia-toned artwork usually reserved for artists who have been dead for decades.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the band has enjoyed an artistic renaissance over the last decade, and the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina — whose destruction forced the temporary closure of the historic Preservation Hall, their home base for nearly 50 years — has only fueled their fire. They don’t venture into the recording studio often — their last album of new material, the wonderful Shake That Thing, was released in 2004, and Preservation Hall Recordings mostly functions as an archival label — but when they do, they make it count. For proof, look no further than Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall, an album whose matter-of-fact title doesn’t even hint at the many treasures it holds in store...

FULL ARTICLE HERE!

"PRESERVATION" Preview #16: Appearing with PHJB on their upcoming benefit album - THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

As The Blind Boys of Alabama celebrate their many years of continuous harmonizing, it’s a fitting time to ponder their amazing resilience. What has kept them going for so long, and still sounding so great? Rock-solid religious faith certainly helps account for their vibrant longevity. So does their unshakeable conviction that they were put here for the express purpose of singing. But an equally important factor, not always shared by their peers, is the Blind Boys’ open-mindedness. Old-time Gospel music circles are often marked by rigid conservatism and the dismissal of popular music as a worldly temptation of the Devil. The Blind Boys, by contrast, shun worldliness yet eagerly embrace the world, bringing spiritual music to secular audiences in order to spread their message.

It’s also rare for such an elderly, historic group to have come so far and still straddle modern music’s cutting edge. When the group first started singing in Alabama in 1939, few people would have ever envisioned the Blind Boys performing beyond a small circuit of Southern, black-community churches. By the 1980s, however, the group’s breakthrough appearance in an Obie award-winning musical – “The Gospel At Colonus” starring Morgan Freeman -- led to diverse popularity far beyond the Blind Boys’ original core following.

Since then the Blind Boys have released or reissued nearly 30 albums, five of which – “Down In New Orleans,” “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” “Higher Ground,” “Spirit of the Century,” and “There Will Be A Light” (a collaboration with Ben Harper) – have garnered Grammy awards. (What’s more, the Recording Academy also honored the Blind Boys with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.) “Duets” is not comprised of tracks from Blind Boys albums, though, but rather from equally acclaimed projects by other artists. One of the first such duets was the 1994 pairing of the Blind Boys and Bonnie Raitt on “When The Spell is Broken,” from the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat The Retreat. The positive response to this great dual performance convinced other artists of substance that there was great cachet in having the Blind Boys make guest appearances. Fellow blues-based artists such as Susan Tedeschi, Charlie Musselwhite and the legendary Solomon Burke– a Blind Boys cohort since the 1950s – followed suit. Given the structural similarities between blues and gospel, such pairings were logical indeed. So, with just a slight change in rhythmic emphasis, was the multi-cultural meeting with the iconic reggae artist Toots Hibbert, of Toots and the Maytals, on “Perfect Peace.”

But the appeal of the Blind Boys among artists and producers was hardly limited to music that’s closely linked to the group’s own distinctive style. Randy Travis invited the band to sing on a countrified version of the gospel classic “Up Above My Head,” while western-swing greats Asleep At The Wheel called them in for the bouncy admonition “The Devil Ain’t The Lazy.” The Blind Boys have long had a penchant for country music, and the country-tinged singing of artists such as The Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit, and Jars of Clay. What’s more, many traditional gospel songs flourish in black and white churches alike.

It may seem like a leap, however, for the Blind Boys to perform with Lou “Take A Walk On The Wild Side” Reed. This recording came about after Reed and the Blind Boys sang together at the General Assembly of the United Nations, in New York. Their rendition of The Velvet Underground’s “Jesus” worked so well in concert that a session was immediately scheduled – and the partnership worked wonderfully. Ditto, turning one-hundred and eighty degrees, for The Blind Boys’ pairing with the roots-oriented children’s’ artist, Dan Zanes. Yet another surprising facet of the Blind Boys’ versatility is the collaboration with Ben Harper on “Take My Hand.” This song was recorded with the premise that Harper would simply produce a few Blind Boys’ tracks. But inspiration filled the studio, and instead Harper partnered with the band on the co-billed (and aptly entitled) album “There Will Be A Light.”SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"There Is A Light"
The Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Clint Maedgen with
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Clint Maedgen) Clint Maedgen Music, BMI

The Blind Boys of Alabama:
Jimmy Carter - vocal
Bishop Billy Bowers - vocal
Ben Moore - vocal
Joey Williams - vocal

Clint Maedgen - lead vocal
Rickie Monie - B3 Organ
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Joe Lastie - drums
Shannon Powell - tambourine

The Blind Boys of Alabama appear courtesy of Saguaro Road Records

Check it out!
PHJB and BBOA together in performance
in the studios of National Geographic!

BLIND BOYS OF ALAMABA - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION!"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #15: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their upcoming benefit album - MR. STEVE EARLE!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

STEVE EARLE
Stephen Fain Earle was born on Jan. 17, 1955, in Fort Monroe, Va. He grew up in Schertz, Texas, a community 17 miles north of San Antonio. At the age of 11, Earle got his first guitar and learned to play it quickly enough to take third place in the Schertz school district's annual talent show when he was 13.

At 14, Earle left home for Houston to stay with his 19-year-old uncle, Nick Fain, who encouraged him to continue his guitar playing. Soon after, Earle met hard-living songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who inspired him to make music his career. Earle later said of Van Zandt, "He was a real good teacher and a real bad role model." At 19, Earle moved to Nashville. While struggling to make it in the music industry, the young hopeful paid the bills by doing odd jobs. "I've never had a job longer than three months in my life," he said. "I've always led a bohemian lifestyle. I have framed houses, worked on oil rigs, worked on shrimp boats and in restaurants, but it was different for me because I knew I was always going to get out."

In Nashville, Steve played in various bands to support himself. He made his first recording in 1975 on Guy Clark's Old No. 1 album, playing bass and singing backup on the cut "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train." Earle eventually wrote songs that were recorded by some major artists. His first publishing deal was with Sunbury Dunbar (a division of RCA), where he earned $75 a week as a staff writer. He almost had his song "Mustang Wine" recorded by Elvis Presley, but Presley failed to show up for the scheduled session. The song was later recorded by Carl Perkins. Johnny Lee had a No. 14 hit in 1982 with "When You Fall in Love," a song Earle co-wrote with John Scott Sherrill.

From 1982 to 1985, Earle recorded a series of rockabilly tracks for Epic Records. Two of these charted. "Nothing But You" went to No. 70 in 1983, and "What'll You Do About Me" went to No. 76 the following year. From Epic, Earle moved to MCA Records, where, in 1986, he released the roundly acclaimed Guitar Town. For this work, many critics hailed him as the missing link between the power of rock and the passion of pure hillbilly music. The title track became the highest-charting song of Earle's country career, making it all the way to No. 7 in 1986. In 1987, MCA released Earle's sophomore album, Exit 0. It, too, became an instant favorite of critics. One song, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied," enjoyed some airplay on rock radio, but country radio ignored it. Another single from the album, "Nowhere Road," climbed to No. 20 on the country charts. The album Copperhead Road made its bow in 1988 and demonstrated Earle's growing interest in rock music. MCA targeted the title single to rock radio. Although the album made few waves in the United States, it did build Earle's reputation in England.

In 1990, MCA released the much harder-sounding The Hard Way. It was followed the next year by the live album Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. This was Earle's last contracted album for MCA. The label declined to renew his contract because of his increasing use of drugs. For the next four years, the singer all but disappeared from the music scene. In 1994, Earle was arrested and sent briefly to prison for possession of narcotics. He was paroled later that year after completing a rehabilitation program. During his break from recording -- a period he called his "vacation in the ghetto," Barbara Behler and Mark Brown, who worked at the Warner/Chappell publishing company, and John Dotson, Earle's former manager, compiled a promotional CD of his songs they titled Uncut Gems. They shopped it around to other recording artists in Nashville, a move that led to Travis Tritt and Stacy Dean Campbell each recording "Sometimes She Forgets" and Robert Earl Keen cutting "Tom Ames' Prayer."

Winter Harvest Records released Earle's folksy, acoustic-oriented collection, Train a Comin', in 1995. Soon after, Earle formed his own label, E-Squared Records. His first album for the new label, I Feel Alright, came out in 1996 and combined elements of country, rock and rockabilly. The next year saw the debut of his El Corazon. Earle tipped his hat to bluegrass music in 1999 when he recorded The Mountain with the Del McCoury Band. In 2000, he released Transcendental Blues, also on E-Squared.

Earle has been an outspoken and tireless opponent of capital punishment. His "Ellis Unit One" is featured on the 1996 soundtrack of the film Dead Man Walking. In recent years, Earle also has written and performed poetry and fiction. He presented excerpts from his works in progress at the 2000 New Yorker Festival and published a short-story anthology Doghouse Roses in 2001. He also stirred up controversy with the song "John Walker's Blues," about John Walker Linde, an American who many considered a traitor for joining the Taliban. The biography Hardcore Troubador: The Life and Death of Steve Earle was published in 2003.SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Tain't Nobody's Business"
Steve Earle with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Traditional)

Steve Earle - vocals, guitar
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Ben Jaffe - banjo
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - string bass

Steve Earle appears courtesy of New West Records

AS PERFORMED BY BESSIE SMITH (1923):

"CITY OF IMMIGRANTS" BY STEVE EARLE (LIVE, 2008):

STEVE EARLE: OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL: OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION!"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #14: Joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MS. ANI DIFRANCO!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

ANI DIFRANCO

Ani DiFranco has written hundreds of songs, played thousands of shows, captured the imaginations of legions of followers, and jammed with folkies, orchestras, rappers, rock and roll hall-of-famers, jazz musicians, poets, pop superstars, storytellers and a martial arts legend. She’s “fixed up a few old buildings” and minimized her carbon footprint before it was trendy – from installing a geothermal heating and cooling system in the renovated church that her label calls home to using organic inks on all the t-shirts she sells. But nothing she’s done in her 18-year career has garnered more attention than a business decision.

Since Ani bucked the major label system in the early-‘90s, opting to release her music on her own terms, the self-described Little Folksinger has been the subject of all kinds of hyperbole. She’s been called “fiercely independent” (Rolling Stone), “inspirational” (All Music Guide), “the ultimate do-it-yourself songwriter” (The New York Times), etc. As the cracks in the music industry get larger and more big-name artists follow Ani’s lead – Radiohead, Madonna and Nine Inch Nails among them – maybe people will just start calling her “smart.”

As important as Righteous Babe Records is to the singer/songwriter/guitarist, she’s more than happy to trust like-minded people with the business and revel in the complete artistic freedom it provides. On her new album, Red Letter Year, she takes more advantage of this freedom than ever before. Conceived, sculpted and refined over the course of two years – a lifetime compared to a typical Ani recording session – the album is an impeccably crafted, multi-layered sonic achievement.

And while the extra time is a big reason for Red Letter Year’s captivating musical depths, the people in Ani’s life play an even bigger part – her partner and co-producer Mike Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers) and her one-year-old daughter Petah Lucia (gurgling, infectious laughter, wide-eyed innocence). Love, family and home are three of the album’s most prominent muses, resulting in a dozen songs that exude warmth and renewed vigor.

For several years to come, musicians will be making headlines as they jump the major label ship and take charge of their own destinies. Having been there and done that, Ani DiFranco will be more than happy to just sit back and make art.SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Freight Train"
Ani DiFranco & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Turner Layton/Henry Creamer) Morley Music Co. (public domain)

Ani DiFranco - vocals, guitar
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums
Ben Jaffe - tuba

Ani DiFranco appears courtesy of Righteous Babe Records

AS PERFORMED BY ELIZABETH COTTON:

"SHY" by ANI DIFRANCO:

ANI'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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"PRESERVATION" Preview #13: Joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MR. TOM WAITS

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

TOM WAITS
Tom Waits has built a career as varied as there are creative outlets—delving into cinema (both composing and acting), musical theater, opera, live performance, and literature—yet seamlessly interweaving a truly distinctive and fully-realized persona. The tools of his trade have included such things as the marimba, trombone, brake drum, metal aunglongs, banjo, bell plate, bullhorn, conga, accordion, optigon, mellotron, maracas, pump organ, basstarda, chamberlain, harmonium, viola, sticks, chairs, a musical saw, as well as the regular old guitar, bass, piano and drums and, of course, that trademark voice.

In a career that has spanned four decades, his music has taken adventurous turns, from confessional country-blues and jazz-flavored lounge, to primal rock and avant-garde musical theater. By turns tender and poignant, to strange and twisted, his songs tend to explore the dark, underbelly of society as he gives his uniquely human voice to adventurers both romantic and mercenary, drifters, con artists and those forgotten characters on the fringe and in the fray. Waits has expanded and drawn from a deep well of American song idioms: folk, blues, country, jazz ballads, polkas, waltzes, cabaret, swing, popular ballads, and a category that can only be described as Waitsian.

Named as one of VH-1’s “Most Influential Artists of All Time” it is no surprise that Waits’ body of work has long been covered (and coveted) by other musicians. Notable cover versions include: Bruce Springsteen (“Jersey Girl”), Rod Stewart and Everything But The Girl (“Downtown Train”), Marianne Faithfull (“Strange Weather”), The Ramones (“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”), 10,000 Maniacs (“I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”), Bob Seger (“Blind Love”), Shawn Colvin (“The Heart Of Saturday Night”), plus Elvis Costello, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Johnny Cash, and many others. A diverse list of artists have cited Tom Waits as an inspiration, including Bob Dylan who has named him one of his “secret heroes.” And the adoration strikes a chord with a rabid fan following—there is even an annual celebration called “Waitstock” near Poughkeepsie, New York.

For more than 30 years now, Tom Waits has been creating music. He continues to inspire new generations of songwriters who have their own story to tell…and their own dark muse to follow.

SESSION PHOTOS BY CLINT MAEDGEN AND J. LLOYD MILLER

THE SONG:
"Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing"
Tom Waits with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(traditional)

Tom Waits - vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Rickie Monie - piano
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Walter Payton - string bass
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Ernie Elly - drums

ANOTHER RECENT INTERPRETATION,
BY MEDESKI, SCOFIELD, MARTIN & WOOD:

"LIE TO ME" BY TOM WAITS - OFFICIAL VIDEO:

TOM WAITS - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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"PRESERVATION" Preview #12: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MR. DEL MCCOURY

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

DEL MCCOURY
by Sandra Brennan
for Allmusic.org
Among the most distinguished practitioners of traditional bluegrass, Del McCoury was the epitome of the "high lonesome sound" for over three decades. Born Delano Floyd McCoury, he was raised in Bakersville, NC. In 1941, he and his family moved to Glen Rock, PA, where he got his start as a five-string banjo picker with Keith Daniels & the Blue Ridge Ramblers. Later he played with Jack Cooke's Virginia Mountain Boys in Baltimore. McCoury got his first big break in 1963 when Bill Monroe hired the Virginia Mountain Boys to play a few New York gigs. Monroe was impressed by the young banjo player and invited him to join his Blue Grass Boys. Shortly after accepting Monroe's offer, McCoury became the group's lead vocalist and took up rhythm guitar. In early 1964, he recorded one single with Monroe, but a month later returned home to marry.

Following his marriage, he and fiddler Billy Baker spent three months in California playing with the Golden State Boys. Upon his return back east, McCoury began playing and recording with the Shady Valley Boys. McCoury left the group in 1967 and founded the Dixie Pals with Bill Emerson, Wayne Yates, and Billy Baker. McCoury & His Dixie Pals, which underwent several membership changes, played together for over 20 years and recorded on such labels as Rounder, Revonah, Leather, and Rebel. In 1987, the unit was renamed the Del McCoury Band following the additions of his sons Ronnie on mandolin and Robbie on banjo along with fiddler Tad Marks and bass player Mike Brantley.

The period following the formation of the Del McCoury Band proved to be very productive, with several terrific releases for Rounder. The band carefully bridged the gap between the interesting song choices and instrumentation of the best progressive bluegrass groups, while still retaining the high lonesome style of traditional bluegrass. In early 1999, the band reached a whole new group of listeners when they backed singer/songwriter Steve Earle on his successful traditionally themed album The Mountain. Around that time, McCoury and sons amicably ended their relationship with Rounder, moving to Ricky Skaggs' Ceili label for the Family and Del and the Boys records. The band released It's Just the Night in 2003, followed by The Company We Keep in 2005 and the gospel-influenced Promised Land in 2006, and Family Circle in 2009.

Keep an eye on the Preservation Hall Jazz Band touring schedule for dates featuring PHJB and The Del McCoury Band together in performance!

SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"After You've Gone"
Del McCoury & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

(Turner Layton / Henry Creamer) Morley Music Co. (public domain)

Del McCoury - vocals
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Freddie Lonzo - trombone
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums

Del McCoury appears courtesy of McCoury Music

AS PERFORMED BY SOPHIE TUCKER WITH MIF MOLE AND HIS MOLERS (1927)

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND PERFORMS
1952 VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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"PRESERVATION" Preview #11: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - DR. JOHN!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

DR. JOHN
Dr. John, or Mac Rebennack as known to friends and family, is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage exclusive to New Orleans. His very colorful musical career began in the 1950s when he wrote and played guitar on some of the greatest records to come out of the Crescent City, including recordings by Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Joe Tex and Frankie Ford. A notorious gun incident forced the artist to give up the guitar and concentrate on organ and piano. Further trouble at home sent Dr. John west in the 1960s, where he continued to be in demand as a session musician, playing on records by Sonny and Cher, Van Morrison and Aretha Franklin to name a few. He also launched his solo career, developing the charismatic persona of Dr. John The Night Tripper. Adorned with voodoo charms and regalia, a legend was born with his breakthrough 1968 album Gris-gris, which established his unique blend of voodoo mysticism, funk, rhythm & blues, psychedelic rock and Creole roots.

Several of his many career highlights include the masterful album Sun, Moon and Herbs in 1971 which included cameos from Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger and 1973’s In The Right Place, which contained the chart hits “Right Place Wrong Time” and “Such A Night.” Dr. John garnered Grammy award wins in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2000. In 2004, his musical love letter to the city of New Orleans, “N’awlinz Dis Dat or D’udda,” was awarded the prestigious Académie Charles Cros 57ème Palmarès award in France. It was the first time since the 1970s that an artist from North America received the award. He has also received six other nominations over the years.

In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy for “Sippiana Hericane,” his Hurricane Katrina benefit disc. Other awards include the American Society of Young Musicians 2007 Trailblazer Award. After Hurricane Katrina and government bunglers bashed New Orleans in 2005, Dr. John immediately stepped up to the plate with both generous relief fund-raising concerts and recordings and angry public words of protest. One of the Crescent City's most favored sons, Dr. John does his considerable bit to keep the world's attention focused on what needs to be done to help New Orleans come back. In 2008, he released the album “City That Care Forgot,” which deals with various aspects of post-Katrina New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. In 2009, “City That Care Forgot” won the Grammy for “Best Contemporary Blues Album.” It is considered to be his finest recording in twenty years.

SESSION PHOTOS BY SHANNON BRINKMAN

THE SONG:
"Winin' Boy"
(Ferdinand Morton) public domain

Dr. John - vocals, piano
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Freddie Lonzo - trombone
Walter Payton - string bass
Ben Jaffe - tuba / tambourine
Joe Lastie - drums

Dr. John appears courtesy of 429 Records

AS PERFORMED BY JELLY ROLL MORTON, 1939:

VINTAGE DR. JOHN - SUCH A NIGHT, 1981:

DR. JOHN - OFFICIAL WEB PAGE
DR. JOHN - OFFICIAL BOXER SHORTS
"PRESERVATION" - OFFICIAL WEBSITE