{"id":29709,"date":"2025-08-27T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T09:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29709"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:09:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T13:09:45","slug":"album-review-all-things-swamp-dressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/27\/album-review-all-things-swamp-dressed\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: All Things Swamp \u2013 Dressed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"So-called \u201cswamp rock\u201d and similar music substyles reflect the sound and culture of Louisiana\u2019s bayou country. But music informed by the traditions of New Orleans and its environs has never been limited to the Pelican State. Rock heroes Creedence Clearwater Revival choogled out of El Cerrito in California’s East Bay; and while John Fogerty and his ban mates had little or no firsthand exposure to the beats of Louisiana when they got started, they somehow served up a soulful musical gumbo.<\/p>\n

So it is with All Things Swamp. Though the nine-man outfit is based in the Bay Area, their sound is firmly rooted in the swamps surrounding the Crescent City and beyond. The group displays an authentic approach to their material, secured in large part through use of tuba (courtesy of the band\u2019s musical director Luke Kirley) and bass trombone rather than doghouse fiddle or bass guitar.<\/p>\n

In fact, on opening track \u201cSidewalk Strut,\u201d there\u2019s even a low-end solo. The tune \u2013 a reading of jazz guitarist Steve Masakowski\u2019s 1996 piece for the New Orleans Nightcrawlers \u2013 is adorned with the sort of fun, upbeat and rascally playful jazz-blues that characterizes music of Cajun and Creole origin.<\/p>\n

All Things Swamp are musical interpreters; Dressed<\/i> is primarily an album of well-chosen and occasionally unexpected songs written by others. \u201cBah-Duey-Duey\u201d is a cover of a 2006 track by Big Sam\u2019s Funky Nation; the ensemble tackles it with aplomb, leaning into the funk textures and giving ample space for guitarist Dean Parks and B3 ace Jim Pugh to shine. The horn section struts, too.<\/p>\n

Their interpretive skills notwithstanding, All Things Swamp serves up a winning original track with \u201cDancing Machine\u201d; the arrangement showcases a deep understanding of the second-line tradition, with all musicians contributing toward the appealing whole.<\/p>\n

In its first 30 seconds here, Josef Zawinul\u2019s \u201cMercy Mercy Mercy\u201d is barely recognizable. But when the whole band kicks in, the supremely catchy melody that helped give Cannonball Adderley a Top 10 pop hit shines through. There\u2019s a funky vibe to this reading that sets it apart from the soul jazz textures of the 1966 original, and Pugh\u2019s organ solo is exciting stuff.<\/p>\n

Hoagy Carmichael\u2019s \u201cRocking Chair\u201d gets the All Things Swamp treatment; their reading doubles down on New Orleans flavor with a vocal turn that\u2019s equal parts Louis Prima and Louis Armstrong. Luca Frederiksen\u2019s \u201cBlues for Ben\u201d moves things back toward funk.<\/p>\n

In 1974, blue-eyed soulster Robert Palmer cut his debut album Sneakin\u2019 Sally Through the Alley<\/i> in New Orleans, backed by The Meters. With their second of two vocal numbers, All Things Swamp tackles that record\u2019s comparatively unknown \u201cHow Much Fun.\u201d In their hands it sounds like a Crescent City classic.<\/p>\n

The record closes with a tight reading of the funky \u201cTake it to the Street,\u201d originally waxed by Trem\u00e9-based The Rebirth Brass Band on their 1992 album of the same name. It\u2019s a fine way to wrap up a delightful set that transports listeners \u2013 wherever they may be \u2013 to New Orleans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So-called \u201cswamp rock\u201d and similar music substyles reflect the sound and culture of Louisiana\u2019s bayou country. But music informed by the traditions of New Orleans and its environs has never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,49,65],"tags":[5731],"class_list":["post-29709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-new-release","category-review","tag-all-things-swamp","cat-31-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29711,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29709\/revisions\/29711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}