Marcia Ball
Love Peace & BBQ
Alligator Records
available on Amazon
Peace, Love, & BBQ, is a perfect name for this new rollicking piano driven disc of swampy R&B, roadhouse blues, fiery Louisiana Dance Hall jump, by singer/songwriter Marcia Ball. As usual she has assembled a nonpareil cast of like-minded fellow musicians from the New Orleans area to stoke the fires her piano and vocal ruminations initiate. The Good Doctor, Mac Rebennack, joins her on organ and vocals for “I’ll Never Be Free” and joins in on clavinet on “Down In The Neighborhood” Wayne Toups and Terrance Simien contribute accordion on a few songs and she picks up the accordion on another. Stephen Bruton adds his guitars and mandolin, as well as handling the role of Producer. There are so many others helping out that it would just be a very long list of those who contribute to the smoldering and yet driving sound on this disc.
It is the songs and the delivery of them that make this such a special disc.
Ms Ball has a way of getting into the vocal delivery of a song and taking it over and her voice
becomes both the instrument to vocalize it also becomes an instrument that enhances the sound. Listen for example to what she does with her song “Miracle In Knoxville” and the way her voice drives the horns on “Where Do You Go?” and at the same time leads the harmonies provided by Tracy Nelson (the two of them wrote this gem), Vicky Carrico and Terry Tucker. This disc is a jewel that has so many glittering facets it is almost difficult to take in on one listen. If you want that genuine swampy rhythmic sound that only comes from deep down Louisiana, filled with some of the finest playing to escape from the swamps, here is your ticket. This woman just continues to add new dimensions to her already impressive catalogue with each new Alligator disc.