Take Me to the River: New Orleans / Various Artists

Take Me to the River: New Orleans / Various Artists (from the album Take Me to the River: New Orleans available on Petaluma Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
New Orleans music is steeped in tradition, and traditions can change. While Take Me to the River: New Orleans is a soundtrack to a documentary that explores the music of New Orleans, it does so by recognizing that 21st Century sounds, from Hip Hop to Indie Rock also hold a place in The Big Easy music scene. The collection is a celebration of tradition from yesterday and as it listens to tomorrow, where big, Bluesy, and boozy ballads jive alongside bouncy and thumping Funk. The place where Mardi Gras Indian Chants and Hip Hop rhymes are driven by Rootsy rhythms.
There are some familiar players from the New Orleans canon; Dr. John, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and The Neville Brothers grace the record. Then throw in Snoop Dogg, Ani DiFranco, and G-Eazy and you’ve got players from a larger musical world digging into these songs.
 “In Love with My NOLA” from Cyril Neville and Voices of the Wetlands, “New Orleans Girl” from P.J. Morton, Cheeky Blakk and the New Breed Brass Band, and “Carnival Time” by Irma Thomas, George Porter Jr., and Nevilles’ Cyril, Ian, and Ivan are all musical homages to the city, with that familiar horn heavy groove and bounce.
Then there’s the cuts that aren’t traditional New Orleans music; Ani DiFranco, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Roots of Music’s “Little Plastic Castles” is a dose of Indie Folk where the two bands strings and horns provide a solid bed for DiFranco’s strong vocals, and Donald Harrison and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s “Sand Castle Headhunters” is exploratory Jazz.
That scratches the surface on this double album, which serves as not only a soundtrack for 2022 New Orleans, but also as a love letter to the music of The Crescent City.
For more information and purchase options, please visit the Take Me to the River website