Ignored             Obscured              Restored

I’m posting today from New Orleans, where I’m back in town for another French Quarter Festival — a weekend of great food, plenty of drinks, and fantastic local music.

Keeping with that theme, today’s Song of the Week is “Cocaine and Chicken Fricassee” by John “Papa” Gros.

Gros (pronounced “Grow”) is a multi-instrumentalist and a fixture on the New Orleans music scene — an active performer and an in-demand sideman.  His style is a true gumbo of rock, funk, and blues — in other words, quintessential New Orleans music.

Over the years, he has released albums featuring both covers of NOLA classics and his own compositions, first with his band Papa Grows Funk and later as a solo artist.

He has also contributed keyboards on sessions for Little Feat, Better Than Ezra, The Neville Brothers, The Funky Meters, Bonerama, and Anders Osborne, among others.  He appeared as a performer in the HBO series Treme and was part of the house band for the 2014 all-star tribute The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: Celebrating Mac and His Music, produced by Don Was — a show I was lucky enough to attend thanks to the foresight and generosity of my cousin Kevin J.

When you can experience this level of talent for free, it’s easy to understand why I look forward to the “Quarter Fest” every year.

Enjoy… until next week.