Paul Sanchez

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.
Then, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and spun the city upside down. It also shook up a lot of things in Paul Sanchez’s life. His house in Gentilly, close to the London Street breach, was wiped out, and everything he owned was lost. But one of the things Sanchez did not lose was his love for the city and the music that makes it unique.
After Katrina, Sanchez wrote one of the most poignant post-Katrina songs of the time, “Home,” and although times were “hard in St. Bernard” and there were many “tears in Algiers,” Sanchez eventually found opportunity within the devastation. He decided that it was time to “reconnect with the soundtrack of New Orleans,” and for him, that meant focusing on his own songwriting and singing career. 
“Life can be gone in an instant,” and Sanchez wanted to make the best of his personal abilities and desires. He left the large venues that came with the rock scene and now looks forward to the more intimate settings like d.b.a and Carrollton Station, where he feels he is best able to “rediscover real music, rediscover New Orleans and life surrounded by music.”
The direction Sanchez has taken may not be the road most traveled, but it is the road that he enjoys and one that audiences are sure to feel privileged to be part of. Sanchez is writing songs unique to the stories of life, especially life in New Orleans, but he is also incorporating what makes New Orleans so unique. He has formed the loose-knit group, the “Rolling Road Show,” with the likes of Ivan Neville making appearances. Sanchez has also released an album, Between Friends, that features songs he wrote for Theresa Anderson, Susan Cowsill, and Darius Rucker, to name a few.
Sanchez did not stop there; instead he has been working towards the future. “You can’t get what has been lost, but you can find what is there,” he says, and musically and spiritually, Sanchez has been fighting the good fight. On a tight budget, partially funded by the group Threadheads, Sanchez put together two new albums, back to back. The first, Exit to Mystery Street, due out in April, features his own songs and musical talents such as Sonia Tetlow, Shamar Allen, Craig Klien, Raymon Weber, Alex McMurray, and a duet in Spanish with Freddy Omar. The second album features Sanchez’s longtime friend John Boutte and is titled Good Neighbor. If Sanchez keeps this busy, we may soon see him writing songs for some of the New Orleans legends such as Aaron Neville, something Sanchez says “would be a dream”. 
In the meantime, audiences are sure to be head over heels with his new music, the new focus and his sincere love for the city he calls home. “I wouldn’t be anywhere but New Orleans, surrounded by music”.