Here we have the complete “score” for Nine Lives: A Musical Story of New Orleans, combining the 24 songs released last year with 15 more written as part of the original conception but recorded in separate sessions toward the end of last year at Piety Street Studios. This ambitious project includes more than 100 New Orleans musicians and dozens of collaborators from elsewhere, and is a prime example of the way New Orleans artists and friends have responded to the historic cataclysm of Katrina and the ensuing federal flood. Art, and folklore in particular, is uniquely suited to express the unfathomable emotional terror unleashed on a populace by the destruction of generations-old cultures. Art can express such inarticulate grief in mythic, dreamscape fashion and Nine Lives does this masterfully.

Katrina brought journalist Dan Baum to New Orleans to write a series of pieces about a city in recovery and led him to write the city’s back story, covering the time between Hurricane Betsy (1968) and the contemporary calamity of Hurricane Katrina. Baum told this story through the lives of nine New Orleanians. Without the destruction brought by the flood, Nine Lives never would have been written…

… and Paul Sanchez might still be a member of Cowboy Mouth instead of one of the most important post-Katrina songwriting voices and musical organizers in the city. Nine Lives: A Musical Story of New Orleans, Sanchez’ ingenious collaboration with lyricist Colman deKay, takes Baum’s book as the inspiration for a Wagnerian opus of songs mythologizing a New Orleans that no longer exists. Sanchez and deKay have recorded the songs, put together a small-scale stage presentation and implemented plans to turn it into a Broadway musical. This album is the fullest realization of the idea so far. In retrospect, last year’s 24 song version was designed as a collection of the best songs from the project sequenced to work on their own. The final version of the album includes the additional songs and significantly re-sequences the first 24 songs to advance the book’s story line in a more coherent fashion.

The new version also adds depth to the characters Joann, Billy, Wilbert, Belinda and Frank. Matt Perrine scored the instrumental set piece “Betsy’s Coming” to set up the 1968 storm, while Shamarr Allen wrote “Katrina and the Flood,” one of three new compositions from him. The new version adds context, emphasizing the contradiction of the piety/violence duality inherent in the parochial school system in the hilarious “School Song”/”Fight Song,” a classic piece of musical comedy with a cameo by Debbie Davis as a nun. The funk rocker “Disrespect” adds further context, and pieces such as “Gloria on the Phone,” “Quit Your Job,” “Kajun’s Pub” and “Billy’s Fall from Grace” add detail from the book that fleshes out the narrative. “Keep Your Eyes on That Snake,” “These Pies,” “Slam Bang Thank You Man” and “The Sadness of Rex Mansion” add drama, excitement and emotional depth.

The curtain raiser “Fine in the Lower Nine” and the finale “Rebuild Renew” hold their places. “Fine in the Lower Nine,” one of three pieces written by John Boutte, is a powerful stage-setter for the production and features outstanding vocal performances from Boutte and Treme’s Wendell Pierce. In addition to Boutte, Sanchez relies on several frequent collaborators. Trumpeter/vocalist Shamarr Allen is responsible for “House of Dance and Feathers” and “We Are the Band.” Alex McMurray plays Officer Tim Bruneau on the hard rocking “Jump Out Boys” and plays guitar and banjo on other tracks. Tom McDermott’s versatile piano work is all over the production, and Matt Perrine’s brilliant arrangements add depth and New Orleans authenticity to the production, quietly heralding the finest work of his career.

Now we have two distinct versions of Nine Lives: A Musical Story, and hopefully there will be more, including an original cast soundtrack. Nine Lives is already well on its way to becoming a historic watermark in musical theater; there are few better indicators of the ongoing revival in the city’s music scene.

Big thank you to all who bought tickets!

We are SOLD OUT!

_______________________________

The Complete 39 Song Set!

Volume One PLUS 15 new songs…

and brand new liner notes by Dan Baum!

Just Released!

2009 was a breakthrough year for the band with their debut album, Cross You Heart, receiving a series of stunning reviews, including Manu Taylor on National Radio giving it his NZ album of the year vote. And the year was capped off with the producers of the New Zealand TV series South selecting the track Greedy Men for use as the show’s title music, while the rest of the album was used for continuity music throughout the series.

The band is comprised of  Paul Gurney – guitar & lead vocals; Stuart McIntyre – bass & vocals; Ron Stevens – Hammond organ, keyboards, acoustic guitar & vocals; Michael Burrows – drums & vocals

The new album Your Highway For Tonight (released May 2 in the US through Mystery Street Records) features 14 all new tracks, including Hearts In One Place, the theme music to Marcus Lush’s New Zealand TV series North.

The reviews of the new recording have been stellar in the DeSotos’ home country.

4 STARS – This is an Auckland four-piece that has nailed their sound.  Big, fat, twangy guitars, slapped snare drum, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, and a Hammond organ drone running through many tracks give the album a much bigger feel, yet very intimate.  – Colin Morris, DomPost

Your Highway For Tonight is loaded with great songs and expressive deliveries.  The DeSotos have grown and so has their music.  It provides more delight with every spin.  – Steve Scott, Waikato Times

Both Gurney and McIntyre write brilliantly and this 14 song effort doesn’t have a weak moment.  The DeSotos music oozes genuine emotions and makes all the right moves without having to think about them first.  There’s real sonic depth in these recordings, which capture the reverberant guitar sounds, the dynamic of a set of closed-miked drums, the fat bass and the fruity organ that fills out the sound.  – Gary Steel, Witchdoctor.nz.co

Your Highway For Tonight can be purchased here:

]]> http://mysterystreetrecords.com/2011/09/27/the-desotos/feed/ 0 http://mysterystreetrecords.com/2011/06/30/stereophile-magazine-review-nine-lives-vol-1/ http://mysterystreetrecords.com/2011/06/30/stereophile-magazine-review-nine-lives-vol-1/#comments Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:44:16 +0000 Susan http://mysterystreetrecords.com/?p=949 [Continue Reading]]]> NINE LIVES
A MUSICAL ADAPTATION, VOLUME 1
by Colman deKay & Paul Sanchez,
based on the novel by Dan Baum

Mystery Street 2011
Paul Sanchez producer
Wes Fontenot, Mark Bingham engineers Nine Lives

New Orleans’ musical renaissance, so well documented in the HBO series Treme, has reached its apotheosis with this expansive project. Paul Sanchez, a versatile singer-songwriter who performs in dozens of different contexts around New Orleans with many of his cohorts, joined forces with lyricist Colman deKay and several local musician buddies to write forty songs based on Dan Baum’s best selling novel, Nine Lives. Sanchez then enlisted over 100 musicians to realize this dream, and they took this three-ring circus into Piety Street Studios, where Sanchez – abetted by engineer Wes Fontenot and resident master of mixology Mark Bingham – proved an able ringmaster.

Baum’s novel is tough to boil down because it concentrates less on narrative than in character development and point of view. The book focuses on nine disparate citizens of New Orleans as they experience life in the years framed by two hurricanes, Betsy (1965) and Katrina (2005). Nine Lives Vol. 1 presents the characters singing a little more than half the songs written for this adaptation. deKay and Sanchez, who used Baum’s own words to unify the script, wisely chose to record these songs before mounting a stage production; this allowed them to concentrate on realizing each song fully as possible, without worrying about enforcing a narrative. The result works more as a great series of songs about New Orleans than as a souvenir cast album of show tunes.

The singing alone would make this recording a standout. John Boutté opens the proceedings with “Fine In The Lower Nine,” a slam-dunk anthem that will make history as this production’s musical brand. Along with Trem star Wendell Pierce, Boutté rolls out the sing-along R&B chorus about country life in the Lower Ninth Ward in 1965. “We’re in our blue heaven,” goes the out-chorus, in reference to local resident Fats Domino, “down on Deslonde Street.” Given the devastation that was eventually visited on this neighborhood, it would be impossible to write this song today in any other context – but as a piece of theater documenting a way of life a half a century ago, it makes perfect sense.

Boutté also sings on the finale, “Rebuild Renew”, and contributes two songs, “Feel Like A Lady” and “To Be Continued”. Other family members of this talented family – Lillian, Tricia, Peter, and Tanya Boutté – also have key roles on Vol. 1. Sanchez, in the role of Dr. Frank Minyard, sings most of the songs and thus provides a strong continuity. Shamarr Allen, who writes, sings and plays trumpet, also produced two of the album’s most important tracks, “House Of Dance And Feathers” and “We Are The Band.” He is an invaluable resource – as is Alex McMurray, as Officer Tim Bruneau, rocking out on voice and guitar in “Jump Out Boys.” McMurray makes crucial contributions on guitar and banjo throughout, while the ubiquitous pianist Tom McDermott is so perfectly cast that he acts as a shadow musical director for Sanchez. The late, legendary drummer Herman Roscoe Ernest III makes his last studio appearances in these tracks. And there are more star turns than I can list, by local favorites the Dixie Cups, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Andres Osborne, Harry Shearer and literally dozens of others.

The hero behind the scenes of Nine Lives is Matt Perrine, whose arrangements for a range of New Orleans settings provide shadow and light throughout this fascinating history. The mood and balance of the story told here skirt the unconscious depths of the imagination, a dreamscape of New Orleans based on things that actually happened to real people, now told as a story designed to strike a resonant chord in every listener. Perrine’s nuanced genius and the broad palette of his own playing on tuba and bass bring operatic life to this tale. Of a city that, in the 19th century, was known for its presentations of opera, there could be no more fitting evocation.

John Swenson

Here is the opening number from that magical night:

Nine Lives – A Musical Adaptation Vol 1

The tentative plan is to go back into the studio in January to record the final selection of songs to complete the work. Nine Lives: A Musical Story of New Orleans is planned for release in time for Jazz Fest 2012. To that end, we are looking for sponsors to make this a reality.

There are six levels of sponsorship with benefits, detailed here. A list of tentative tracks is also included. You can be a part of this amazing project by choosing one of the levels below to contribute to the fund* to complete the second phase of Colman & Paul’s vision.

*This Mystery Street Records project uses sponsorship as a way to raise funds. Contributions will not be paid back to sponsors.

Executive Producer    $5,000.00

Associate Producer     $2,500.00

Song Sponsor     $1,000.00

Friend of Nine Lives      $100.00

Nine Lives Supporter I    $50.00

Nine Lives Support II     $25.00

(Click the blue button beneath sponsorship level to sponsor via Paypal.  You do not have to have a Paypal account.  Checks will be accepted at our mailing address on the Contact Us page.)

Email Chris Joseph for more information or discuss other ways to help move this project along.

Here is the first released clip from that magical night:

Trumpets screamed, tambourines rattled and singers harmonized about pain, joy, grits and greens at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre last night as an all-star cast of local musicians presented a Broadway-style portrait of New Orleans.

The musical adaptation of the book “Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans” by Dan Baum debuted with two performances Wednesday night, both sellouts.

The show, intended to grow into a full musical, depicts the city through two of its most distinct features: real-life characters and musical prowess. The musical adaption by Colman deKay and Paul Sanchez entertained audiences with a portrait of the city created by stories of its residents, the tales delivered via a range of music, dance and theatrics. References to Carnival royalty, Huey P. Long, drugs, the New Orleans Saints, Katrina, even grits and banana bread, surfaced in show-tune form. And like most musicals, the performances included dancing, but in keeping with the city’s spirit, onstage moves were freestyle as opposed to choreographed, with entertainers breaking into second-line steps.

Readers have praised Baum’s book for its powerful and compassionate portrayal of the city. Baum arrived in New Orleans after the storm as a journalist for The New Yorker and developed a deep connection with the city, which prompted he and his wife to move here in January 2007 and write “Nine Lives.” The nonfiction book depicts 40 years of life in the city, from 1965, the year Hurricane Betsy hit, to post-Katrina times in 2007, through the oral histories of nine New Orleans residents.

The book inspired Sanchez and deKay to create a soundtrack album, a two-disc set including 24 original songs. The album, released on Mystery Street Records, features more than 100 musicians and vocalists, mostly from New Orleans. The show’s music was culled from the album, the more complex orchestrations arranged for the stage by New Orleans tuba and sousaphone player Matt Perrine, who served as musical director for the show. New Orleans singer Debbie Davis served as vocal director.

During last night’s show, renowned New Orleans musicians like guitarist Sanchez, trumpeter Shamarr Allen and singer Tricia Boutte, among others, flaunted their talents while performing the stories of fellow New Orleanians featured in Baum’s book. Sanchez sang of heroin junkies and Katrina deaths as coroner Frank Minyard, Allen issued strong orders as band director Wilbert Rawlins Jr. and Boutte rushed the sewing of her Mardi Gras Indian chief husband as Joyce Montana.

Members of the stage band, also a roll call of topnotch New Orleans musicians, joined the acting with trombonist Craig Klein and trumpeter Mark Braud filling minor roles.

Veteran actors Harry Shearer, known for his roles in “Spinal Tap” and “The Simpsons,” and Bryan Batt of “Mad Men” fame drew audience laughs with their antics as proud Carnival king Billy Grace and his son-in-law, heir to the throne. Broadway actor and Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris showed his range by playing both John Guidos, a transsexual bar owner who becomes JoAnn Guidos during the show, as well as police officer Tim Bruneau.

Music ranged from string-heavy ballads and saucy jazz numbers to fierce hip-hop and angry rock. Mournful harmonies backed by somber trombone expressed Minyard’s angst in helping drug addicts. Regal horns lauded Shearer and Batt’s Carnival king scenes. Soulful female vocals and shaking tambourines marked the tales of Mardi Gras Indians. A sultry song backed by a muted trumpet, and later a funky disco number helped illustrate John Guidos’ transformation into JoAnn. A pretty violin-centered song described a tumultuous time for Belinda Rawlins.

The show included a simple set with no props; projected photos of New Orleans homes, cop cars, bar signs and other imagery provided the backdrop.

The musical adaptation portrays the beautiful and dirty sides of the city. A rowdy song called “Run Against You and Win” showcases the city’s dealings with drugs and politics. Tionne Johnson, who plays a young Belinda, sings of dreams to exchange her Lower 9th Ward life for the lives depicted on television, with picket-fenced homes in places where “the cops are on your side.”

“Be sure to kiss your Mama before she goes to work till dawn,” Johnson sings.

Pride and determination take center stage in Mardi Gras Indian-inspired songs like “Tootie” and “Bring the Mountain to Him.”

Allen’s lyrics in “We Are the Band” also help define the city: “The music lives.”

The final song,”Rebuild/Renew (Now),” brought audience members to their feet in a standing – dancing? – ovation. Nearly every audience member was clapping and grooving by the time the cast and band took their bows.

“The response from the audience was so gratifying,” deKay said after the second performance, adding that the crowd reaction gives him confidence that a full musical is viable. “It was so powerful and so affirming.”

Click logo to read the original article…

The Vieux Carré (The French Quarter) is much more than beads, booze and Bourbon Street.  It is the place where literary giants Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner found inspiration among the ornate ironwork, peeling paint and foot-worn streets and where early music pioneers like Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton incorporated the often heard multicultural musical styles into a new sound, dubbed “Jazz”, and perfected it in the French Quarter bars and strip joints of the early 20th century.  It’s the place where, in a small room in the back of his shop, recording engineer Cosimo Matassa, along with local musicians Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew and others, began crafting the music now known as Rock ‘n Roll.

Today, artists, writers and musicians are still drawn to the Vieux Carré where artists create and sell their work around Jackson Square and musicians of every genre play in restaurants, bars, clubs and on street corners.

Close your eyes.  Listen to the music.  Smell the gumbo.  Transport yourself to the most magical, intriguing half square mile in the world.

Track List:

1. Ooh Baby La La – Margie Perez
2. She’s Got Me Hook, Line & Sinker – Creole String Beans
3. Midnight Rendezvous – Ingrid Lucia
4. Nobody Knows Nothin’ - John Boutté, Bill Lynn, Paul Sanchez and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
5. Keep Your Hand on the Plough – Ytre Suloens Jass-Ensemble, featuring Tricia “Teedy” Boutté
6. Waltz for All Souls – Tom McDermott & Evan Christopher
7. Baton Rouge Baby – Wilson & Moore
8. Creole Moon – Bendtsen & Miller
9. Farewell to Storyville – Paul Sanchez
10. Time To Get Paid – Marc Stone
11. St James Infirmary – Ensemble Fatien
12. Country Girl – Honey Island Swamp Band
13. Home – Paul Sanchez & The Rolling Road Show featuring Craig Klein and Shamarr Allen (Live and Unreleased)
14. Bent But Not Broken – Matt Clark, Paul Sanchez, Ivan Neville, Tricia “Teedy” Boutte and Shamarr Allen

Release Date on or about: April 5, 2011