Swamp
Rock is the
first album in LocoBop’s new series featuring some
of the most exciting and authentic interpreters of
this genre.
While
Cajun and zydeco usually get the most attention,
there’s a special brand of music that evolved
along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi,
Louisiana, and southeast Texas (with influences
reaching into southern Arkansas and Tennessee)
called “swamp rock” or “swamp pop.”
The genre
combines early R&B formats with a mainstream
sensibility and a strong blues feeling. But
what makes this music unusual is that most swamp pop
musicians, and a large part of the music’s audience,
are white.
Artists
featured in this volume include: Bourbon Street
heavyweight
Phat2sDay;
harmonica virtuoso
Tommy Dardar
from Houston,
Texas; The Pale Prince of Beale Street, otherwise
known as
Papa Don McMinn;
Von Johin,
the avatar blues star from Second Life;
Memphis guitarist
Terry Wall and
The Wallbangers;
Shreveport natives,
The Anderson
Brothers; the
explosive
Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers;
the inimitably soulful
Memphis All
Stars; Good
time Louisiana party rockers
Charlie Cuccia
and
Bill E. Shaw;
the acclaimed King of Swamp Pop,
G.G. Shinn;
New Orleans street singers
David & Roselyn;
and the man from Memphis, whose legend is itself
legend,
Don Nix.
