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 Congratulations to Grammy Winners Rubén Blades & The Blind Boys Of Alabama! The Blind Boys of Alabama won their second consecutive Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for this year’s Higher Ground CD which also features guests Robert Randolph and The Family Band as well as Ben Harper. The win follows on the heels of the Grammy win for their last CD, Spirit Of The Century. The Blind Boys also appeared on Solomon Burke’s Grammy winning CD, Don’t Give Up On Me. Rubén Blades won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Mundo, his acclaimed new CD featuring Editus Ensemble, Boca Livre, De Boca en Boca, Eric Rigler, and Luba Mason. The Grammy is the 5th win for Rubén Blades who is also an award winning actor and former presidential candidate in his home country of Panama. Tony Bennet also won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album for Playing With My Friends. The title track was co-written by Robert Cray and Dennis Walker. Marcia Ball Joins The Hackberry Ramblers on NBC's Today Show Feb 21 Marcia Ball joins her longtime friends The Hackberry Ramblers on NBC-TV's Today Show in a feature story to air on Friday, February 21. The Today Show story on The Hackberry Ramblers' 70th anniversary features a guest appearance by Ball, who joins in at a Sunday afternoon dance deep in bayou country. The feature was filmed both at McGee's Landing in Henderson, LA, and at the Rendez-vous des Cajuns radio show in Eunice, LA. Watch for Marcia's new Alligator CD coming in late April as well as her appearance on an upcoming cover of Blues Revue Magazine. The Hackberry Ramblers Official Page >> New Orleans' Offbeat Magazine's Best Of The Beat Awards Honor BeauSoleil, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Ann Savoy of Savoy Doucet Cajun Band BeauSoleil Avec Michael Doucet took the honors as Best Cajun Cajun Band - an honor that is bestowed upon them basically every year. If you want to see the Best Cajun Band there is - it's BeauSoleil. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band scored 2 wins including Best Brass Band. The city is known for it's brass bands but The Dozen is the best, and it was their innovative work that revitalized the genre. The Dozen also collected the award for Best Brass Album by a Louisiana Artist for their Medicated Magic CD which features Norah Jones, John Bell of Widespread Panic, Robert Randolph, Dr. John and DJ Logic. Also honored was Ann Savoy of The Savoy Doucet Cajun Band for producing the Best Cajun Album by a Louisiana Artist. Ann and Savoy Doucet perform on the CD along with contributions from Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, Richard Thompson, and Nick Lowe. The awards were given out at the annual Offbeat Best Of The Beat Awards in New Orleans on February 7. Offbeat Best Of The Beat Awards Winners >> The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's Jazz Fest Residency 2003! The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, New Orleans' most celebrated brass band and one of the city's most innovative groups, will again perform for 11 consecutive nights during The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Second Annual Jazz Fest Residency will begin on Thursday, April 24 and end in the wee hours of Sunday, May 4, all taking place at Twiropa in the New Orleans Warehouse District. Tickets are available at http://www.superflypresents.com/ John Hammond’s "Ready For Love" Released On February 11, 2003 John Hammond’s, new CD Ready For Love was released on February 11, 2003. The CD includes an eclectic collection of songs produced by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and is the follow-up to Hammond’s Wicked Grin – the acclaimed collection of Tom Waits songs produced by Waits. Billboard Magazine, in reviewing the new CD states that "Hammond’s voice only gets more seductively potent with age." Look for John Hammond on tour throughout the year performing solo and occasionally with the band that backed him on record including Marty Ballou, Augie Meyers, Frank Carillo and Stephen Hodges – see tour dates. BeauSoleil's Best From Rhino Out February 11 BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet released a decade's worth of favorites from Rhino Entertainment entitled ENCORE, ENCORE!! THE BEST OF BEAUSOLEIL (1991-2001) on February 11. The package features 19 songs and 75 minutes of great music from America's premier Cajun band, including three songs from the Grammy-winning album L'Amour Ou La Folie as well as tracks from Cajun Conja, L'Echo, Cajunization, La Danse De La Vie, and Looking Back Tomorrow. To see the band live, check tour dates. |
