FROM THE DEPTHS OF NEW ORLEANS
The filthy streets of New Orleans, especially in the French Quarter, are special, extraordinary filthy streets. What makes these streets so important is the perpetual birth of music anywhere at any time. Living in New Orleans you gather the sense of struggle and find truth in the idea that this struggle is what fuels art, the arts in which we love. Art ridden in human emotion and projected out of the body with a desperate force that pulls heart strings and strips the average human down to their skeleton. Living in squaller, squatting in filth, and drinking away the sense of my environment are activities I personally participated in during my time in the big dirty. These streets seem to be the vanguard of cultural experiences as a traveling folk musician, and at any given time on Royal, Decatur, Frenchman and (to a lesser extent) Bourbon, you might find a college course on acoustic music and singing with feeling 101. One of the many bands that have graced these magical streets with success has been YES MA'AM
YES MA'AM is a six piece band playing original songs in a hoe-down foot stomping country style. They all seem to have an appreciation for the roots of the music they play and in the spirit of folk and blues themselves, lines are borrowed from older songs and rearranged. It's nice to see people who study the music they play as well as the music they don't play. With Matt on resonator guitar and singing, his voice is one of the loudest most powerful to bounce off the city walls, and he is accompanied by some of the most talented traveling musicians in the area. Harlan Chancey, a Louisiana native, plays the banjo in the group and also owns an old beat up limo which they cruise to gigs and film festivals on tour with, a sight to behold. They have recently appeared in the WB's new show about vampires "The Originals" for a small segment, as well as having the recorded music in CSI: New Orleans. All in all this band is perfect for the street and the people's ears and wallets agree.
-Chris Jeffries
MUST SEE!!!
The official music video for Yes Ma'am of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Find them in real life on Royal Street or around New Orleans, or on the web here:
