Contents
F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 2
Events
11 6 8
VO LU M E 3 9 // I SS U E 2
Features
SHENANIGANS Stages are set across the region—with live music, theatre, and visual art
REFLECTIONS The Song Remains the Same by James Fox-Smith
NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES
50 54 56
Publisher
THE HANDS OF TIME Weedie Braimah’s Grammy-nominated debut is a musical journey from Africa to New Orleans. by Alexandra Kennon
THE ACADIAN ACCORDION Marc Savoy’s new memoir tells the story of the beloved Cajun instrument. by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
James Fox-Smith
Associate Publisher
Ashley Fox-Smith
Managing Editor
Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Alexandra Kennon
THE BATON ROUGE BLUES A new generation of musicians carries on the Capitol City’s rich musical tradition. by John Wirt
On the Cover
Creative Director
Kourtney Zimmerman
Contributors:
Kristy Christiansen, Paul Christiansen, Sam Irwin, Emily Ferretti, Charlotte Jones, Raegan Labat, Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein, John Wirt
Cover Artist
THE MUSIC ISSUE
Emily Ferretti
Cover image by Emily Ferretti
At the heart of cover story subject Weedie Braimah’s Grammy-nominated album The Hands of Time are the instruments. The djembe. The ngoni. The kora. The balafon. All weaving through and working with the electric guitar, the electric bass, the synth. It’s an altogether new sound, these tapestries—folding one culture into another, reverberating with songs of the past and visions for the future. As the son of a New Orleans jazz drummer and a Ghanaian djembefola, Braimah says this marriage is a poignant reflection of his personal history: “What you’re seeing is my life. You’re not hearing—you’re seeing my life, through your ears.” In our first ever issue dedicated entirely to the music of our region, we explore the power behind these tools of music, our instruments. In our feature story “The Acadian Accordion,” a German instrument becomes something singularly Cajun in the hands of a master—its altogether new sound altering the cultural identity of a people in just a short century. In the Bywater, we discover a playground of sound-inspired architecture; in Baton Rouge, a sculptor who makes birds of violins, bags out of cellos. We look back on Armstrong’s roots and find Fate Marable atop a steamboat, banging away at the calliope keyboard in gloves and a wash of steam. And we finish, appropriately, in Clarksdale, where they say the devil retuned bluesman Robert Johnson’s guitar in exchange for his soul.
Cuisine
48
BAYOU SAINT CAKE In her cakes, Bronwen Wyatt reinterprets traditional New Orleans pastries, fusing the old and the new. by Lauren Heffker
Mardi Gras
23
BON TEMPS
The only Carnival calendar you’ll need this year by Alexandra Kennon
4
Culture
50 52 54 55
THE MULES OF MARDI GRAS The history of the garbage mule’s rise to Carnival by Charlotte Jones
MUSIC BOX VILLAGE A metaphorical utopia of song and play
Escapes
56
62
by Kristy Christiansen
LOUIS AND FATE Armstrong’s first performance in Baton Rouge
by Sam Irwin
T(O) REX A children’s book on all things Mardi Gras
by Alexandra Kennon
F E B 2 2 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
CROSSROADS,MS Finding refuge in the blues
by Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein
PERSPECTIVES Composer Dennis Parker uses unloved instruments to create whimsical sculptures. by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
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President
Dorcas Woods Brown
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