Review by Offbeat Magazine
Paul Sanchez And The Rolling Road Show , “Life Is A Ride” (Independent)
For a lot of New Orleans musicians, the flood and forced depopulation of the city after Katrina was a slow motion train wreck that piled disaster upon disaster and either ended in tragedy or still hasn’t stopped. You didn’t have to die immediately in the flood to be killed by it.
Some musicians and artists in other disciplines have managed to sublimate this tragedy into their work. Their art flourished even as their lives fell apart. It’s an old story, familiar to the people whose ancestors were brought here in chains or arrived as refugees fleeing religious persecution. When all else fails, music has the power to sustain the spirit and bear witness to the horror of history.
Paul Sanchez is one of those New Orleans musicians who found deep strength in his work even as the comforts of home life disintegrated. Katrina robbed him of his house, his job and eventually his marriage. 12 years later...