专辑简介

Houston 2005: After the storm, gigs were scarce. Money was one thing - not being able to play with fellow New Orleanians made life even worse. I especially missed my trio brunch gigs, which I’d been doing regularly for 25 years. It was then that I began arranging these standard New Orleans tunes for solo guitar, mostly for my own amusement & sanity, but also to have a record of our music from a guitar perspective. For inspiration I turned to the late, great Danny Barker & another New Orleans guitarist who has passed, Mississippi-born Babe Stovall, who played blues & gospel guitar on the streets of the French Quarter during the late sixties & early seventies. By combining their styles with my own & throwing in a little harmonica, I aimed for a traditional/contemporary New Orleans guitar style. One thing I did not have was a good steel string acoustic guitar. Enter Music Rising.org, a Gulf Coast instrument replacement organization sponsored by Gibson Guitars, who generously sent a couple of acoustic guitars my way. Three years later I can say thanks.

Vic Shepherd: NEW ORLEANS: September 2008