The Tanglers is one of just a few bluegrass bands based in New Orleans, Louisiana. “New Orleans has such a rich music community,” says bandleader James Hausman. “Bluegrass music is slowly catching on here.” James grew up in New Mexico, where he developed a musical background in Western fiddle. “It has what I call New Mexico fill, which is closer to Cajun music.” When it was time for James to go to college, he chose Loyola University in New Orleans, where he majored in music education. “By my junior year of college, I was playing in five bands.”
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Today James is a full-time music teacher at Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, where he teaches orchestral music to grades kindergarten through five. James plays fiddle with The Tanglers. “I found The Tanglers after Katrina,” says James. “I joined them as a sub at first, and I’ve been playing with them ever since.” The band plays festivals and venues throughout the Gulf states and into Northern Louisiana. In 2019, James’ fiancé (now wife), Jena Hausman, had a special request for the band. “Her favorite movie is True
Stories,” says James. “She wanted us to play the soundtrack of the movie for a party she was organizing.” True Stories is a 1986 musical satirical comedy directed by David Byrne, the band leader of Talking Heads, formed by a group of former art school students in New York in 1975. The band provided most of the music in the film. Despite their avant-garde sensibilities, the band had a very clean-cut look, and their integration of punk, art rock, funk, and world music pioneered new wave music. The members of the Tanglers thought playing
