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The Bayou is a World of Its Own-a marshy, sometimes treacherous, oftentimes sinister land of creeping darkness and living shadows, secret legends and vivid mythology. It is that darkness and those shadows that permeate Bayou Underground, a headfirst plunge into the music, the mystery and the magic of life and lore away from the bright lights of big city New Orleans.
Bayou Underground explores the music of the region through the legends and rumors that created it in the first place. From the House of the Rising Sun to the legend of Stagger Lee, from Marie Laveau to the axman who loved hot jazz, Bayou Underground unearths the people and the cultures that have called the bayou home, revisiting their words and lives through the music of so many rock outsiders. Bo Diddley, Nick Cave and Alice Cooper pass through the pages to document past history, or creat a new one. It is the world of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jerry Reed and Elvis Presley; it is the music of Dr. John, Joe Satriani and the Oak Grove Swamp Fox.
Part social history, part epic travelogue and partly a lament for a way of life that has now all but disappeared, Bayou Underground is the gripping story of American music's forgotten childhood and the parentage it barely even knows about, seen through the emotions, dreams and enchantments that the bayou instills in all of us.
"A head-long dive into the music and culture of New Orleans and its environs . . . Bayou Underground unlocks secrets and back-stories worth savoring." —Wall Street Journal Online
"Kind of like listening to a good album for the first time; the paths taken may surprise you." —antimusic.com
"An intriguing folklore travelogue . . . the focus is on the filter through which writers (sometimes thousands of miles away) view the southern states of the US. This neatly illustrates the far-reaching impact that New Orleans continues to have on the wider music community." —Record Collector
Introduction 1
Track 1 "Promised Land" Elvis Presley 11
Track 2 "Baron Samedi" 10cc 27
Track 3 "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" Redbone 37
Track 4 "Highway 61 Revisited" Bob Dylan 49
Track 5 "Big Bad Moon" Joe Satriani 63
Track 6 "Amos Moses" Alex Harvey Band 75
Track 7 "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" Dr. John 91
Track 8 "Who Do You Love" Juicy Lucy 107
Track 9 "Chateau Lafite'59 Boogie" Foghat 117
Track 10 "Bad Moon Rising" Creedence Clearwater Revival 125
Track 11 "Staggerlee" Prince Buster 135
Track 12 "Louisiana 1927" Marcia Ball 149
Track 13 "Sneaking Sally through the Alley" Robert Palmer 165
Track 14 "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals 185
Track 15 "The Carny"and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave 193
Track 16 "Black Juju" Alice Cooper 205
Track 17 "The Ripper" Judas Priest 213
Track 18 "Bad Things" Jace Everett 223
Epilogue 239
Acknowledgments 244
Bibliography 245
Anonymous
Posted August 19, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
The Bayou is a World of Its Own-a marshy, sometimes treacherous, oftentimes sinister land of creeping darkness and living shadows, secret legends and vivid mythology. It is that darkness and those shadows that permeate Bayou Underground, a headfirst plunge into the music, the mystery and the magic of life and lore away from the bright lights of big city New Orleans.
Bayou Underground explores the music of the region through the legends and rumors that created it in the first ...