Still Singing the Blues: New Orleans and South Louisiana
Series: Still Singing the Blues
From: Richard Ziglar
Length: 00:55:00
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.More from Richard Ziglar
Crescent City Blues
(00:55:00)
From: Richard Ziglar
Crescent City Blues takes listeners to the hidden world of New Orleans corner joints—bars far from the French Quarter, in neighborhoods like Central City, Treme, and ...
In Desperation, Seafood Workers Sign Away Their Rights
(00:06:14)
From: Richard Ziglar
For many of Louisiana's oyster shuckers, shrimp peelers, and deckhands, survival after the BP oil spill meant accepting one-time payments of $5,000 check and signing away the ...
Vietnamese Fishermen Search for the Monetary Value of a Lost Culture
(00:05:45)
From: Richard Ziglar
Kenneth Feinberg, the Boston attorney in charge of reviewing claims for the BP oil spill, says he expects to start paying interim and final claims later this month. But as ...
Pointe-au-Chien Indians, Reeling from the Oil Spill, Watch as Their Land Washes Away
(00:07:59)
From: Richard Ziglar
The 700-member Pointe-au-Chien indian tribe south of Houma, Louisiana was one of the first communities to take a direct hit from the BP oil spill. For them, the disaster is ...
How 200 Ailing Pelicans Changed One Man’s Life
(00:05:42)
From: Richard Ziglar
The BP oil spill triggered an outpouring of volunteer energy. Concerned Americans lay boom, picked up tar balls, and performed mundane tasks like answering telephones. A few ...
Researchers Call Oil Spills and Climate Change a Devastating Combination
(00:04:36)
From: Richard Ziglar
Most of us shudder to imagine the impact of another large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and for good reason. A spill in future decades could have even more far-reaching ...
Grand Bayou, Self-Sufficient and Shrinking, Prepares for a Fisheries Collapse
(00:06:55)
From: Richard Ziglar
Members of the Atakapa-Ishak tribe have found a creative use for a high-tech fencing material that has protected soldiers in Iraq and strengthened levees outside New Orleans: ...
An Oystering Community Contemplates Life Without Oysters
(00:07:23)
From: Richard Ziglar
In Pointe-a-la-Hache, Louisiana, the oyster harvest feeds widows, sustains relationships, and keeps the rural economy humming. But the BP oil spill shut down the oyster ...
For One Cajun Shrimper, a Journey from Despair to Defiance
(00:11:47)
From: Richard Ziglar
It has been over a year since the Deepwater Horizon blowout, but it’s still too early to measure the complete cost of the ensuing disaster. Despite that, we do know that the ...
Charter Boat Captain to GCCF: I’m Not Settling
(00:06:44)
From: Richard Ziglar
(NOTE: This piece is non-narrated.) The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) has predicted that most businesses will recover from the BP oil spill by the end of 2012. Like ...
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
|
Great piece, well worth a listenI 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.





ann banks
Posted on June 30, 2010 at 10:49 AM | Permalink
This is wonderful!
I loved the washing machine story.
Ann B.