BOB Profile: Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk
August 30, 2013
Le Petit comedy deals with Youth’s rebellion
August 30, 2013
Truly a product of both Texas and Louisiana (born in Orange, Texas, raised in Vinton, La., both border towns), Ball and her music are shot-through with the roots of the region – blues, zydeco, R&B and soul.
Her workmanlike vocals and top-notch band are in service to her extraordinary piano skills. Her sets are heavy with (impossible-to-resist) dance numbers peppered with stop-in-your-tracks ballads. The result is sublime party music, with heart and smarts.
She credits her hearing Irma Thomas at a very young age as the epiphany that turned her musical compass to Soulville. She studied piano with a paid teacher as well her grandmother, then went to LSU to major in English and play in a trippy band called Gum. Newlymarried and headed to San Francisco after school, the couple’s car broke down in Austin, and she’s never left. It was there she fell under the spell of Professor Longhair’s particular brand of boogie-woogie piano and became a master in her own right. Now Fess’ arpeggiated rolls and runs comprise just one of the strains of her roadhouse repertoire.
She’s got 15 solo albums to her credit, all excellent. She’s played the White House, David Letterman, Prairie Home Companion and thousands of honky-tonks and festivals. Her N.O. Jazz Fest set is not to be missed.
She will work the hell out of the crowd at BoB, delighting her fans and winning over newcomers alike. She will sit cross-legged at her keys and make a joyful noise, smiling at the two-steppers and beaming faces looking back at her.
