Paul Sanchez

Press

Paul Sanchez and New Orleans' Rolling Road Show Review

Apr 6, 2009
Stereophile by Robert Baird

Could anything top a visit to Snake and Jake's Christmas Club Lounge? I mean, what on earth-let alone the great but still reviving city of New Orleans, Louisiana-could one possibly best the experience of seeing, hearing and, God knows, smelling S&J's, one of America's more piquant fire-water soaked dumps (see http://blog.stereophile.com/musicroom/robertbaird/new_orleans_matters/).

 The answer was Carrollton Station, a much more upscale club, where we went to see and hear Paul Sanchez and The Rolling Road Show. To a big-city newcomer the idea sounded too wide-eyed and optimistic to be believed: musicians from various genres, black and white, jazz cats and rock dudes, getting together to play each other's songs. In theory, it would be a mixing of the many styles and influences that have...

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Offbeat Magazine

Musician, Heal Thyself

Apr 6, 2009
Offbeat Magazine by Alex Rawls

“I hadn’t tuned a guitar in years.”

 

For years, someone handed Paul Sanchez a tuned guitar when he walked onstage with Cowboy Mouth. If it went out of tune, there was someone there with another ready to go, and went he left the stage he handed it to that someone. That sort of treatment spoils a man. “The first time I played d.b.a. on my own I wasn’t even sure where to plug my amp in.”

 

Paul Sanchez traveled in some variation of that style for most of his 16 years in Cowboy Mouth. It was rarely easy; his relationship with singer/frontman Fred LeBlanc was complicated, and once they hit some variation of the big time, things got harder. “We got signed to MCA,” he says. “Hootie and the Blowfish were hot, and they wanted us to make a record that sounded like Hootie....

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Stew Called New Orleans

Stew Called New Orleans - John Boutte & Paul Sanchez

Apr 1, 2009
Where Y'at Magazine by Sheri McKee

This CD captures the true flavor, feel, and culture of real New Orleanians.  John Boutte’ & Paul Sanchez make several references that only locals can understand on their latest collaboration together, Stew Called New Orleans.  Filled with acoustic guitar strumming and trumpet playing by Leroy Jones, these classic song writers take listeners on a story filled adventure of tales through the city including an amusing ‘oops my drink smudged your digits on a napkin’ in “Two-five-one,” and “Call Me Superstitious” referring to a little voodoo.  One of the most enjoyable tracks is the simple and soul searching honesty on “Hey God” featuring John Boutte’ on vocals, Paul Sanchez on guitar and Leroy Jones’ perfectly timed trumpet solo and accents.  Sanchez croons out a bluesy version of “I...

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Offbeat Magazine

A Very Threadhead Holiday

Apr 1, 2009
Offbeat Magazine by Alex Rawls

The artists that cut or are cutting albums for Threadhead Records came together to record A Very Threadhead Holiday, a charming, often irreverent Christmas album. The album succeeds in being seasonal (if not always holly and jolly), and it represents the musical personalities of those involved. Craig Klein’s “Christmas on My Mind” is a good-natured slice of classic New Orleans R&B, and the Kinky Tuscaderos’ Mary Lasseigne’s “All Jacked Up for the Holidays” is modern rock without being too hip to celebrate. Glen David Andrews leaps out of the speakers for “Santa Got High for Christmas,” and while it works, he could benefit from noticing how Susan Cowsill makes “The World at Christmas Time” hold up for over five minutes with a series of hooks dotted throughout the song. In Alex...

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Billboard Magazine

PREACHING TO THE CHOIR

A New Orleans Trombonist And A Savvy Nonprofit Label Rebuild

Mar 14, 2009
Billboard Magazine by Larry Blumenfeld

Two years ago, trombonist Glen David Andrews could scarcely look up as he described his months "in exile" in Houston and the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer he shared with relatives after Hurricane Katrina ravaged his hometown. "I feel ground down," he said then. But at last year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, he bounded from the stage, gazed up and gleefully announced, "It's my time."

 

It may well be. Andrews' renewal is evident on his new album, "Walking Through Heaven's Gate" (Threadhead Records), which was released Feb. 24. These songs, mostly hymns, reveal the same fire Andrews brings to street parades and bandstands throughout New Orleans, and they open a window into an important piece of the history that defines Andrews and his close clan of powerhouse...

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Prince Geoge Citizen

Coldsnap features spicy, feisty musical flavour from New Orleans

Jan 14, 2009
Prince Geoge Citizen by Patty Stewart

On the night of the day soon-to-be-former U.S. President George Bush told the press that his government responded well to Hurricane Katrina, I spoke to Paul Sanchez. 
Sanchez, or “Poppy” as he is known to his friends, lives in the French Quarter and is well acquainted with the documented disaster that devastated New Orleans in 2005. 
“Well, it’s hard for some people to see beyond their own grand illusions,” said the seasoned singer-songwriter, who has written for, performed and recorded with some very solid names in the music business. 
The 49-year-old says he is "New Orleans born, New Orleans bred and when I die I'll be New Orleans dead.” He spent 15 years on the road, more than 200 nights a year on stage, travelling the U.S. and Canada, mostly with a group called Cowboy Mouth. The group...

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VOODOO EXPERIENCE 2008 (THE HIDDEN VOODOO)

Nov 16, 2008
All About Jazz by Mike Perciaccante


Paul Sanchez and The Rolling Road Show

Voodoo Experience: The Tenth Ritual
New Orleans City Park 
New Orleans, Louisiana 
October 24-26, 2008

Billed as the 10th Ritual, The 2008 Voodoo Experience in New Orleans featured top-shelf headliners Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, and the festival closer, REM—each a chart-busting superstar act that ostensibly delivered what the crowd expected and came to hear.Lie," and "Echoplex" as well as the best of their old and new catalogue.

Although the performances by these bands realized the potential of which each is capable, setting inspiring examples for the shows by Dashboard Confessional, Panic! At The Disco, Joss Stone and Lupe Fiasco, it was the less heralded acts that made this year's Voodoo especially memorable. Away from the big stages...

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New Orleans Times Picayune

Paul Sanchez exits at City Park Avenue instead of Mystery Street

Oct 24, 2008
New Orleans Times Picayune by Keith Spera
Paul Sanchez performs at Voodoofest Friday, October 24, 2008.

Fronting his Rolling Roadshow at the WWOZ/SoCo Stage, Paul Sanchez let it be known he knew exactly where he was. He rolled out "Exit to Mystery Street," the title track of his most recent CD and a reference to an entrance at that other big festival staged in the Esplanade Ridge neighborhood.

"That's for a different fest on a different day," Sanchez said. "Today it's all about Voodoo."

Later, in a set marked by guest turns from trombonist Glen David Andrews and guitarist Alex McMurray, Sanchez noted that his song "Sedation" was written in honor of the anti-anxiety medicine and anti-depressants that have helped New Orleanians get along since Katrina. "We're rebuilding New Orleans one pill at...

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New Orleans Times Picayune

Paul Sanchez's "Jet Black and Jealous" finds new life in Nashville

Oct 3, 2008
New Orleans Times Picayune by Keith Spera

Paul Sanchez's 'Jet Black' surprise

Fifteen years after local singer-songwriter Paul Sanchez released his solo debut "Jet Black and Jealous, " the title track has found new life in Nashville. Unbeknownst to Sanchez, successful country songwriter and publisher Travis Hill, who writes under the pen name Scooter Carusoe, had rewritten "Jet Black and Jealous" with a country flavor.

The Eli Young Band, a popular contemporary country quartet from Texas, heard Hill's demo and recorded the song as the title track of its major-label debut for Universal Records South; Sanchez is listed as co-writer with Carusoe.

"The version is lovely, very different, but still has bits of my melody, imagery and of course the tag line, " Sanchez said. "I had heard since I was a kid how tough the Nashville...

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Voices to Hear: Interview: Paul Sanchez

Jul 1, 2008
Voice To Hear by John Holland
Paul Sanchez was a founding member of Cowboy Mouth. He's recently left the group and is now on his own. His concerts are billed as the Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show where he performs with different special guests. At the French Quarter Fest this year I happened to catch his show there with John Boutte, Shamar Allen and Susan Cowsill. To call it one of my favorite concert moments is an understatement.


1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

I was asked this question a few years ago in a spontaneous moment and before I had...
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New Orleans Times Picayune

The 60-Second Jazzfest interviews: Paul Sanchez

Apr 23, 2008
New Orleans Times Picayune by Chris Rose

Paul Sanchez is one of the great New Orleans singer/songwriters, a fact that was somewhat obscured by his long tenure as a sideman in the legendary revival rock band Cowboy Mouth.

Sanchez lost his house in Katrina, left the band, developed a seizure disorder that prevents him from traveling and is starting all over -- he and his wife, Shelly, are renters now and, instead of playing to packed audiences at college bars across the country, he's a small-room guy now, plying his impressive portfolio of songs written over the years, many of them archiving the New Orleans that used to be, and the one we've got now.

Paul Sanchez and his Rolling Road Show will be appearing today at 5:50 p.m. on the Lagniappe Stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

What is...

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Allison Miner Music Heritage/Lagniappe Stage, 5:55 PM

Apr 18, 2008
Where Y'at Magazine by Becky Brych

When talking to Paul Sanchez, he will mention a lot about the “cool cats” he has had the privilege of working with lately, but Sanchez is definitely a “cool cat” himself. Sanchez has been a New Orleans fixture for over sixteen years and seven solo CDs. Most recently, he has become a staple of the Frenchman Street scene playing regularly at d.b.a. Now he is preparing for his first solo performance at the Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Sanchez’s career has spanned the last several decades, beginning with the Backbeat’s in the eighties. After spending time in New York and becoming involved in the “anti-folk” scene, Sanchez returned to New Orleans. He then spent the majority of the next sixteen years on the road, touring the U.S. and ten different countries with the rock band Cowboy Mouth.

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