NOLA music

Sonny Gullage: “Go Be Free”

Blues is an almost stereotypical staple of the “old Austin” Sixth Street sound. But if you wanna break out of the city limits, let loose, feel unleashed and all that good stuff? Of all the notable places to split from the whole program and make the best of the blues, New Orleans always stands tall at the top of the shortlist. So it makes sense that rising NOLA blues rocker Sonny Gullage graced his recently-unfurled debut full-length with the title Go Be Free.

Gullage’s journey began way back as a precocious twelve-year-old writing heartfelt reflections on the BP oil spill. And that ability to translate a complex sense of understanding into readily accessible blues is alive and well a little over a dozen years later as Gullage finally hits streaming. Sure, Sonny leans on fellow twenty-five-year-old Clarksdale guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram for one of the LP’s heavyweights “Worried About the Young”, but aside from that Go Be Free is a fervent, self-fueled endeavor.

The twelve-track (produced by Grammy nom Tom Hambridge) navigates a tightrope of consistency and eclecticism that makes for forty-plus minutes of exceptional blues rock. And like any good blues, Go Be Free also reckons universal suffering with everyday ebullience, as heard on the album’s eponym “Go Be Free”. It rocks. It riles. It’s as real as it gets. And we can’t wait to see what this keyboardist-singer has in store for us next.

Generationals: “Strangers”

As streaming numbers become one of the defining metrics for success, you see a lot of young up-and-comers try to cover their bases by cranking out singles. Longer-standing, well-established acts, however, know that the “quality over quantity” builds stronger staying power.

Just look at NOLA-born indie-garage-pop duo Generationals, who first got started in 2008. With a decade and a half of experience and plenty of fans across the globe, they’re getting pretty close to reaching their namesake in terms of lifespan and impact. The pair’s fared well with a production technique of remotely collaborating – shaping songs one file share at a time – so in 2021 when Generationals went to track a new EP in Athens, Georgia straight to tape, it was already a trepidatious process. They listened back, weren’t thrilled with the results, and wisely went back to the drawing board.

The result is Generationals’ sixth full-length, Heatherhead, out this Friday. The LP’s a real case study in looking inward, defining what makes a certain brand of music great, and taking care to make sure the end product is far beyond listener expectations. In a final effort to familiarize us with Heatherhead before it drops, Generationals graciously introduces us to “Strangers”. From its initial ear-perking staccato guitar and hazy vibrato synth, straight to its driving daytime disco bass line and breezy, effects-tanned falsetto vocals, “Strangers” tosses chillwave into a caipirinha that’ll serve up the spirit of flirty summer fun all year-round – even when they stop by The Mohawk on September 8th.

Loose Cattle: “Sidewalk Chicken”

Neither New York nor New Orleans are particularly renowned for their unbound livestock, but that could all change with Loose Cattle. With Michael Cerveris and Kimberley Kaye at the core, Loose Cattle first came out of the stable in 2011, and within that decade they’ve evolved from a duo to a quintet, from punk into alt-country, and just within the timeline of COVID, recorded their debut full-length.

Loose Cattle’s got the proverbial bull by the horns with the release of Heavy Lifting last Friday, rambunctious kickin’ out of the barn with its eleven rustic and sweltering originals including an urban twist on a fellow barnyard favorite with “Sidewalk Chicken”!

Dawn Richard: “Bussifame”

Most amateur armchair psychologists can recognize a Type-A personality out in the wild, and even when she isn’t directly in the spotlight, it’s still hard to miss New Orleans native Dawn Richard. Her impressive list of extracurriculars have included being a martial arts instructor, owner of a vegan food truck, animator for Adult Swim, and cheerleader for the New Orleans Hornets, all of which have co-existed with Richard’s ascension to pop superstardom.

Dawn Richard’s upcoming LP Second Line picks up where Beyonce’s Lemonade left off, with her own message of empowerment for Black women in the South and beyond, placing considerably more emphasis on women producers than previous endeavors. The narrative-heavy, character driven concept album drops on Friday but you can get a head start on learning your new favorite dance moves today with “Bussifame”!