Cookie & the Cupcakes were among the first to blend Cajun music with rock & roll to create the musical hybrid known as swamp pop. The eight-piece band reached its peak in 1959 when their lively dance tune "Mathilda" reached number 47 on the Billboard charts. Although they subsequently toured as the opening act for Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats... [+] Read More

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The future of Baton Rouge swamp blues lies squarely in multi-instrumentalist Kenny Neal's capable hands -- the second-generation southern Louisiana bluesman is entirely cognizant of the region's venerable blues tradition and imaginative enough to steer it in fresh directions, as his albums for Alligator confirm. His dad, harpist Raful Neal, was... [+] Read More

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Unlike many of his swamp blues brethren, the evocatively monickered Lonesome Sundown (the name was an inspired gift from producer J.D. Miller) wasn't a Jimmy Reed disciple. Sundown's somber brand of blues was more in keeping with the gruff sound of Muddy Waters. The guitarist was one of the most powerful members of Miller's south Louisiana... [+] Read More

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When he wasn't busy siring progeny (the Neal household produced ten kids, most of them seemingly now playing the blues), Raful Neal was staking his claim as one of the top harpists on the Baton Rouge blues front. Unfortunately, until recently, his discography didn't reflect that status -- but albums for Alligator and Ichiban have righted that... [+] Read More

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In the large stable of blues talent that Crowley, LA, producer Jay Miller recorded for the Nashville-based Excello label, no one enjoyed more mainstream success than Slim Harpo. Just a shade behind Lightnin' Slim in local popularity, Harpo played both guitar and neck-rack harmonica in a more down-home approximation of Jimmy Reed, with a few... [+] Read More

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Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hoboed around the country, had a successful... [+] Read More

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A South Louisiana swamp pop staple during the 1950s and '60s, the Boogie Kings reformed in 1991 and found their regional support as healthy as ever (and they're back on the same label they began with, Floyd Soileau's Jin Records). Founders Doug Charles, Elbert Miller, and Skip Morris are gone, but with Duane Yates fronting, the Kings still pump... [+] Read More

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Harpist Whispering Smith made it in on the tail end of the swamp blues movement that swept the Baton Rouge region, working with Lightnin' Slim and Silas Hogan before making his own fine singles for Crowley, LA producer J.D. Miller.

Alternating down-in-the-bayou entries such as "Mean Woman Blues" (not the Elvis Presley/Roy Orbison... [+] Read More

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