The 60-Second Jazzfest interviews: 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...
Allison Miner Music Heritage/Lagniappe Stage, 5:55 PM
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.
French Quarter Festival
French Quarter Fest has become a kind of monster, far outstripping its modest beginnings, and several prominent local musicians expressed outrage at the festival's insistence that performers generate their own sponsors in order to get paid. But once this year's event started it was hard to dwell on any negatives. Hundreds of thousands of music fans basked on the banks of the Mississippi in glorious weather and crowded around the more intimate stages on Bourbon and Royal streets to hear hundreds of local musicians play their hearts out in the 25th annual renewal of this festival. This massive free concert performed by Louisiana musicians was a joyous event that lived up to the festival's reputation as Jazzfest without the outside players. There were plenty of visitors, though,...
Look Out Walmart! Here Come The Threadheads
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival may have come and gone, but to an ever-growing number of diehards known as the Threadheads, the last day of Fest, (which is always the first Sunday of May) is really just the first day of planning for the following year. The Threadheads can be found chatting and planning on the official Jazz Fest website. It is here where, in late 2002, this community began to spread the love for all things New Orleans. The topics of conversation found in this forum aren't always about the Festival exclusively. If you want to know how Aaron Neville is dealing with his asthma, or what New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is up to, or if a new restaurant has opened in the French Quarter, there's a good chance the Threadheads will have the scoop before anyone else.
In...
On The Scene
Popping Paul Sanchez, a New Orleans Legacy
A cool cat, Paul Sanchez is pure breed N'Awlins, decked out in a Fedora style Stetson and voodoo beads slung low, his rootsy originals preach fun-loving good times.
With a thirty year musical career, Paul, alias "Sanchmo", shares heartfelt advice on life's ups and downs in his myspace blogs signing off with "red beans and ricely yours". his rich songwriting and equally poignant personal stories are like diving into a steamy plate of beignets.
At the age of 14, guitar in hand, Paul took lessons from his older brother Andrew, "racing past the chords straight to the song".
Dan, his sister's husband, taught him rock n' roll with the Elvis moan and the Buddy Holly hiccup.
Paul began his musical career in New Orleans with The Backbeats, followed by a move under the guiding powers of...
The Creole Rat Pack
In 2006, Paul Sanchez walked away from the rock group Cowboy Mouth, a band he helped form 16 years ago. He had lost his house to Katrina's floodwaters, and once he was off the road, he started the process of dealing with the storm--something touring helped stave off. He later developed a seizure disorder that makes it difficult for him to tour.
Some would have called it a career, but Sanchez shows no signs of slowing down. He currently resides in the Marigny and performs regularly at Frenchmen Street clubs such as d.b.a. He will also soon release two projects, a brand new solo record, Exit to Mystery Street, and John Boutte’s new album, Good Neighbor which he co-produced.
Sanchez jokes that Boutte and himself are the “Creole Rat Pack,” or the “black and white New Orleans.” They met at...
John Boutté Knows What It Means
At a crawfish boil during last years New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, I asked songwriter Paul Sanchez which New Orleans musician he thought was most deserving of attention outside the Crescent City. "John Boutté," he said without a moment's hesitation. "He's the best singer in town." I didn't get a chance to hear Boutté until this year's Jazz Fest, where, backed by a jazz group, he sang tunes like Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin'" to a big crowd. I was highly impressed, and looked forward to hearing him in a smaller room.
I was overwhelmed Friday night in Central Park's outdoor Delacorte Theater in front of an audience thinned by an earlier shower, accompanied only by a guitarist and occasionally banging a tambourine, John Boutté sang a devastating set of tunes...
Two years after Katrina, New Orleans music scene is a faint echo of its past - Washington Post
A melancholy song from the broken cradle of jazz
NEW ORLEANS — In a crowded bar in the French Quarter, locals are passing a tip bucket while singer John Boutte whoops and hollers, crooning tales of regret and rage over the havoc wreaked by that witch Katrina. Adding his own spin to an old Randy Newman song, "Louisiana 1927":
President Bush said, "Great job, good job!
"What the levees have done to this poor Creole's land . ..."
Backstage, the Virgin Mary gazes...
Cowboy Mouth, “Mouthing Off”/Paul Sanchez “Wasted Lives and Bluegrass” (1994)
Not that its New Orleans-based members weren’t capable of spare and emotionally direct work.Leave it to Paul Sanchez, then the band’s rhythm guitarist, to expose a tenderness that dwelled just beneath the surface of leader Fred LeBlanc, who had for so long cultivated a sweaty college-hangout, drum-lord persona.
Happy Trails
He left the success of Cowboy Mouth behind,but Paul Sanchez isn't exactly ready to ride off into the sunset just yet
As the Canal Street ferry churned across the Mississippi on a recent afternoon, Paul Sanchez and jazz singer John Boutte stood at the rail, watching St. Louis Cathedral recede.
Boutte, a committed French Quarter-ite, relished the Algiers-bound perspective. "Sometimes it's good," he said, "to see things from the other side."
Sanchez smiled. "That's what I'm doing. But I'm taking it to the extreme."
In November, Sanchez left Cowboy Mouth, his primary musical outlet for 16 years. He and his wife, Shelly, still have no permanent home, after Hurricane Katrina's breached levees poured 9 feet of water into their Gentilly house. It has since been razed.
And so, at 47, Sanchez finds himself looking at life from the other side.
"We were so indecisive after Katrina," he said. "It got worse and worse....
Best Of The Batch: Paul Sanchez
Between Friends
Having spent 17 seasons as the part of the suave, six-string support squad for N’awlins’ party band, Cowboy Mouth,Paul Sanchez once again steps out of the shadows to offer his own take on music….Sort of. Though he has penned every one of these diverse tracks, Sanchez has again deferred performance rites to his musical friends (hence the title).
But what friends they are! From The Cowsill’s Susan Cowsill to Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin to Hootie-man Darius Rucker, Sanchez knows how to pick ‘em- both in terms of songs and singers.
Drawing on both his familial and personal homelands, Sanchez presents the mournful cowboy song “Mexico,” the Latin-tinged anti-war warning “Wake Up” (delivered affectingly by Crescent City gem John Boutte) and the Cajun-esque rouser “Wake-y-up-o,” which,...
Review: Between Friends
The concept of Paul Sanchez' new album is that others - his friends - sing his songs. His friends include include members of Hootie and the Blowfish, Mark Mullins, Theresa Andersson, John Boutte and more, and they all turn in strong performances that are right for the songs. When Susan Cowsill sings one of Sanchez’ kid songs, she hits the right tone—playful, but not cutesy. When Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin sings “Someone Again,” the natural ache in his voice serves Sanchez’ song about dealing with the tension between the personal and public life of a musician.The CD is a tribute to Sanchez the songwriter. He has written songs others will gladly be a part of, find connections to, and over and over he turns phrases artfully. He should be proud to see his work treated so...