Caption: Louisiana blues diva Carol Fran performs at her 76th birthday party., Credit: Photo by Barry Yeoman
Image by: Photo by Barry Yeoman 
Louisiana blues diva Carol Fran performs at her 76th birthday party. 

Still Singing the Blues: New Orleans and South Louisiana

Series: Still Singing the Blues
From: Richard Ziglar
Length: 00:55:00

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Still Singing the Blues: New Orleans and South Louisiana features musicians in New Orleans and South Louisiana who continue to perform the blues—often despite poverty, ill health, and the impacts of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. We have included two versions, one with a billboard and one without a billboard. The billboard version is 55 minutes long. The one without the billboard is 53 minutes and 59 seconds long. Timing and cues are given for the billboard version. Read the full description.

Franprx_small Still Singing the Blues features musicians in New Orleans and South Louisiana who continue to perform both traditional blues and rhythm-and-blues—often despite poverty, ill health, and the impacts of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The hour-long, music-rich documentary burrows into the lives of three outstanding older performers: Carol Fran of Lafayette, Harvey Knox of Baton Rouge, and Little Freddie King of New Orleans. Listeners will travel with these musicians to recording sessions, street corners, birthday celebrations, and neighborhood taverns.

Also interviewed are blues pianist and singer Marcia Ball; blues-and-funk guitarist Ernie Vincent; and Bethany Bultman, president of the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Producers Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman have been interviewing older Southern blues and R&B musicians for the past 18 months. Their last documentary, Truckin' My Blues Away, was commissioned and distributed by AARP's Prime Time Radio and broadcast on 325 stations. The current, independently-produced project, Still Singing the Blues, is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative and funded, in part, by a generous grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Accompanying this documentary is a web site, http://stillsingingtheblues.org, which features additional audio clips, photographs, a blog, and links for readers who want to obtain CDs, find music venues, and learn more about non-profit organizations that promote Louisiana's music and support its musicians. The producers will add audio and photos to the site throughout the coming year.

Project director Richard Ziglar is an audio documentarian whose credits include Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions; AARP’s Prime Time Radio; American Public Media’s “The Story”; and the North Carolina Arts Council. Reporter Barry Yeoman, a former Louisianan, is a freelance journalist who writes for O, The Oprah Magazine; AARP The Magazine; Audubon Magazine; and Good Housekeeping. His radio program Picking Up the Pieces, about the parents of injured veterans, won the 2009 Gracie Allen award for outstanding mid-length documentary. Ziglar and Yeoman can be reached at info@stillsingingtheblues.org.

This is the first of a two-part series about the blues in New Orleans and South Louisiana. Part 2 will be released later this summer, but the two hours can be broadcast separately and independently. 

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Piece Description

Still Singing the Blues features musicians in New Orleans and South Louisiana who continue to perform both traditional blues and rhythm-and-blues—often despite poverty, ill health, and the impacts of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The hour-long, music-rich documentary burrows into the lives of three outstanding older performers: Carol Fran of Lafayette, Harvey Knox of Baton Rouge, and Little Freddie King of New Orleans. Listeners will travel with these musicians to recording sessions, street corners, birthday celebrations, and neighborhood taverns.

Also interviewed are blues pianist and singer Marcia Ball; blues-and-funk guitarist Ernie Vincent; and Bethany Bultman, president of the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Producers Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman have been interviewing older Southern blues and R&B musicians for the past 18 months. Their last documentary, Truckin' My Blues Away, was commissioned and distributed by AARP's Prime Time Radio and broadcast on 325 stations. The current, independently-produced project, Still Singing the Blues, is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative and funded, in part, by a generous grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Accompanying this documentary is a web site, http://stillsingingtheblues.org, which features additional audio clips, photographs, a blog, and links for readers who want to obtain CDs, find music venues, and learn more about non-profit organizations that promote Louisiana's music and support its musicians. The producers will add audio and photos to the site throughout the coming year.

Project director Richard Ziglar is an audio documentarian whose credits include Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions; AARP’s Prime Time Radio; American Public Media’s “The Story”; and the North Carolina Arts Council. Reporter Barry Yeoman, a former Louisianan, is a freelance journalist who writes for O, The Oprah Magazine; AARP The Magazine; Audubon Magazine; and Good Housekeeping. His radio program Picking Up the Pieces, about the parents of injured veterans, won the 2009 Gracie Allen award for outstanding mid-length documentary. Ziglar and Yeoman can be reached at info@stillsingingtheblues.org.

This is the first of a two-part series about the blues in New Orleans and South Louisiana. Part 2 will be released later this summer, but the two hours can be broadcast separately and independently. 

2 Comments Atom Feed

Caption: PRX default User image

This is wonderful!

I loved the washing machine story.

Ann B.

Caption: PRX default User image

Great piece, well worth a listen

I found this piece very well executed and well worth the time. Very timely as well considering all the misfortune that has been visited on the New Orleans area.

Timing and Cues

WITH Billboard Version

This piece has two versions, one with a billboard, and one without a billboard. The timing and cues given are for the one WITH the billboard. For the other version, subtract 1:01 from the times below to arrive at the proper cues.

0:00 - 0:59 Billboard
0:59 - 1:01 2-second pause
1:01 - 23:39 "A" Segment (Carol Fran)
23:39 - 23:40 1-second pause
23:40 - 24:40 1-minute music bed interlude - Everything is not the Same (French Creole version, recorded 2010, sung by Carol Fran)
24:40 - 24:41 1-second pause
24:41 - 35:37 "B" Segment (Harvey Knox)
35:37 - 35:38 1-second pause
35:38 - 36:38 1-minute music bed interlude - Pauger Street Boogie (Field recording, recorded 2010, performed by Little Freddie King)
36:38 - 36:39 1-second pause
36:39 - 55:00 "C" Segment (Little Freddie King)

55:00 is the end to make time for a 5 minute news hole.

NO BILLBOARD VERSION Version

This piece has two versions, one with a billboard, and one without a billboard. The timing and cues given are for the one WITH the billboard. For the other version, subtract 1:01 from the times given previously.

Musical Works

Title Artist Album Label Year Length
Tou' Les Jours C'est Pas La Meme (Every Day Is Not The Same) Carol Fran Louisiana Swamp Stomp. Honeybee Entertainment (unreleased) 2010 00:00
Emmitt Lee Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon Gulf Coast Blues, Volume One. Black Top / Rounder Records 1990 03:14
Stormy Monday Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon Carol Fran: Women in (E)motion. Tradition & Moderne 1993 05:57
Daddy Daddy Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon Carol Fran: Women in (E)motion. Tradition & Moderne 1993 02:35
Peeping and HIding Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon Carol Fran: Women in (E)motion. Tradition & Moderne 1993 05:44
Track 3 Harvey Knox and the Soul Spectrum Band Natchez - Black Dots - LIVE. Harvey Knox (unreleased) 1987 05:27
Track 4 Harvey Knox and the Soul Spectrum Band Natchez - Black Dots - Live. Harvey Knox (unreleased) 1987 05:21
Crack Head Joe Little Freddie King You Don't Know What I Know. Fat Possum Records 2005 04:05
Goin Out da Mountain (Live) Little Freddie King Gotta Walk with Da King. MadeWright Records 2010 08:02
Bus Station Blues (Live) Little Freddie King Gotta Walk with Da King. MadeWright Records 2010 07:23
Pauger Street Boogie Little Freddie King Field Recording. Yeoman and Ziglar (unreleased) 2010 01:00

Additional Credits

Humanities consultants on this project were Ben Sandmel, Michael Hurtt and Karen Leathem.
This documentary was sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative with generous funding from a grant provided by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Narration was recorded by Dave Tilley of Bogue Sound Studios, Durham NC.
Additional recordings were contributed by Ivan Klisanin, David Alvarez, Julia Botero and Jamie Dell'Apa
Rachel McCarthy was the narration coach.

Related Website

http://stillsingingtheblues.org/