Paul Sanchez

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 the Rolling Road Show?
It's a conceptual band of whoever's available and wants to have some fun. There are so many great musicians here, so it's a variety show of New Orleans fun.

All the musicians around here seem to know each other.
There was always that love and respect for each other before the Thing, but afterward, the musician pool shrunk, so you started to recognize each other a bit more. I was always in love with the jazz scene, but intimidated by it, too. But I have been able to cross that boundary and make friends with those cats, and it's been a great roadmap home for me.

You speak of the "before" and "after." How has the music scene changed in New Orleans since the Thing?
It's more precious. Before the Thing, we used to live here because we loved it. Now we live here because there are moments that we love that we can't have anyplace else. And if you string together enough of those moments you might have a good week.

What's the difference in the tenor of Jazzfest?
The first year after was reverential and spiritual. People really wanted to come and say: Let's pray and applaud that it's still here. The next year was more like: Let's get the party back on! But it was sort of hyper-frenzied. You'd look around and go: OK, we're having fun; it's OK to have fun. This year, we are settling back more into life. I mean, it's never going to be normal -- nothing's ever going to be the same -- but I think this year we're into: I remember how this goes. Calm down. It's all gonna be good.

This is your first year at Jazzfest not a member of Cowboy Mouth. Any wistfulness about that?
Oh God, no. I don't miss anything about that. It was a fun ride for 16 years. Had a ball and believed in the band. But I truly would never want to be a part of that again. I looked at us online recently, and there's footage from French TV in 1993 that somebody just posted on YouTube, and footage from a documentary made about us in 1996 and it was really fun and really intense and really real, and that's the Cowboy Mouth I choose to remember. So, do I miss it? Baby, I played 3,500 shows in 16 years; it's in my DNA -- I couldn't miss it if I wanted to.

What's your best moment at Jazzfest?
I like the sense of community, the feeling that everybody is there for the same thing. I like that wash-over of: We're all one.

2008 will be remembered as the return of the Neville Brothers. Will you be there to welcome them?

Absolutely. That was, to me, one of the biggest holes in the last two Jazzfests. And say what you want about Cyril's anger and Aaron's sadness, it's like this: This (Katrina) has never happened to anybody in the history of this country, so however you're getting through it, good for you. And if it took them two or three years to come back, thank God they came back, because that's a religious moment and the people who are angry about it should just go, just watch the sun set behind that stage, see the community on that stage and feel the community in that audience. I don't care if you're religious or not, that's a very spiritual moment.

Columnist Chris Rose can be reached at chris.rose@timespicayune.com; or at (504) 352-2535 or (504) 826-3309.