Published on:
April 3rd, 2014
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Eric Lindell rolling through New Orleans. Still from video.
Eric Lindell, rolling down the streets of New Orleans in mule cart, gives a soulful blues-rock reading of "Bayou Country," a song he attributes to Luther Kent and Duke Bardwell. Bardwell, of Baton Rouge and Elvis' one-time bass player, was Kent's cousin. Kent's band Cold Grits recorded the song in 1970. For more on the convoluted history of Cold Grits, go here.
So named because bloody marys helped generate the idea, Bloody Sunday Sessions is "a web-based video series of stripped down musical performances occurring in the back of the iconic New Orleans’ mule-drawn carriages."
Here's an audio-only version of Cold Grits' version of "Bayou Country".
Comments
Bayou Country by Bardwell & Veitch
Actually, the song was written by Bardwell and Trevor Veitch, who were bass player and guitarist, respectively, for folk revivalist Tom Rush at the time. They were in sitting around in a dive hotel in NYC while off-duty for recording Tom's eponymous album, watching the Apollo 11 moon landing and looking at the atlas out of boredom. The place names of Louisiana and Duke's homesickness combined, and "Bayou Country" was born.
After leaving Rush, Duke was recruited to become a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for Cold Gritz and the Black-Eyed Peas, consisting of the Cold Grits rhythm section - bassist Harold "Hog" Cowart, drummer Ron "Tubby" Zeigler and guitarist Jimmy O'Rourke - Duke, vocalist Luther Kent and back-up vocalists, Core McFadden and Carrie Mae Davis. They quickly signed with Lou Adler's Ode Records, but a promotional release of this single was all that became of their recording sessions before the band imploded.
We produced a film about Duke's life and legacy, which was on the festival circuit in 2012. As of now, it is not commercially available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1KmLOw9i0
Ron "Tubby" Zeigler
I’m an old friend of Tubby. Does anyone know his whereabouts? If so PLEASE give him my email and tell him Joey M & Larry O are trying to reach him. Thank you!