Loving New Orleans

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theatrical fusions of blues and psychedelia. They've worked together in the past on numerous occasions, and with any luck at all their joint appearance at the Michigan Theater on February 17 (one day too late for Mardi Gras, wouldn't you know) should be a terrific example of quintessential New Orleans music-making.

Which means what, exactly? Neither of these acts conforms to the frat-boy hedonism sometimes associated with Louisiana music, and they sound quite different from each other. Dr. John is known for his rather wild take on the figure of the old piano "professor," and the Nevilles for their gorgeously smooth R&B and for great contemporary songs, such as "Sister Rosa," rooted in New Orleans traditions. But the Neville Brothers and Dr. John work well together because they draw from common sources and expand upon them creatively. They do a few of the same pieces, including the inscrutable "Iko Iko," and they've both tapped into something old, powerful, and generally impervious to tampering by the wider music industry--if not, unfortunately, to hurricane winds and subsequent neglect.