Louisiana is known for its great food. You get a big ole pot and begin throwing in crawfish, andouille, Tabasco sauce and garlic, start stirring in a big heaping of laissez les bons temps rouler and eventually you’re going to end up with a hot and spicy gumbo of savory flavors that send your soul into overdrive.
Like the cuisine, much of the music that is being brewed here in the deep south is sizzling with zesty chunks of funk, Cajun zydeco, jazz, blues and good old fashioned rock n roll all kneaded together into one hell of a beignet. There is no other sound like the sound of Louisiana.
On a Friday night, just a hoot and a holler from the Big Easy, a band was playing at a small intimate club in Mandeville called The Howlin Wolf Northshore. Known for their eclectic variety of shows, the band playing on this particularly warm night was Josh Garrett and the Bottomline.
Yes, this guy has been around a few years, humping the circuit with his funky brand of horns and guitar spice. He has a reputation that preceeds him and it is well deserved. For on this night, he lit up this little southern enclave like a red-hot smoking firecracker of bluesy sauce spilled on the grill. Smoke and sweat. You can picture it, I know you can.
Intermixing originals from his 2008 debut cd “Changed Man” with laid back blues standards, Josh served up some raw emotional guitar artistry, especially on “Ain’t Nobody’s Business”. The guy just leans his head back and goes to town, lost in the pure sacrifice of the notes. He’s no over-glorified pin-up boy ala John Mayer. No, Josh makes love to the frets with a slowness that anyone with an ounce of love for blues guitar will certainly appreciate. I had chills on several songs; one of them being the old traditional “Wade In The Water”.
Josh’s band The Bottomline accentuated him perfectly, knowing when to get down and when to just lay back and let the man go into his orbit. Featuring red-hot sax player Matt Gros, Mark Levron on the trumpet, Mark Kryvanick on the bass & Brian Dowd on the drums, the band was tight & loose at the same time.
You also could tell that these guys were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their interaction was genuine, as it was with the crowd. At one point Josh was off amongst them soloing for all he was worth in the middle of a congregation of enthusiastic supporters. You would have thought it was Sunday at a Pentecostal church.
If you have not caught this band in your neck of the woods, they are out there, no doubt close by, so check out the website for tour dates and catch them if you can. You will not be disappointed. Their most recent CD is Live On Printer’s Alley.
