Art After Dark returns to Houma
September 5, 2012
Chartering a Comeback
September 5, 2012
National Public Radio, the Los Angeles Times and the Montgomery News each have stamped Marc Broussard’s music with the “Bayou Soul” brand, an effort to condense his vast range of pop, blues, rock and funk innovation into an identifiable style.
He embraces the label – figuring it to be true – even while acknowledging that it simplifies the diverse musical array he produces.
“I take it as a huge compliment that my music was so undefinable that somebody had to create a whole new genre to define it,” Broussard said. “There’s quite a bit of sarcasm in that statement, but nonetheless, I think the term fits because my music does have a very soulful element to it, and it also showcases a lot about where I’m from and about who I am.”
A 30-year-old singer-songwriter hailing from the Lafayette suburb Carencro, Broussard headlines a list of 13 musical acts the first day of Houma’s two-day Best of the Bayou Festival.
Broussard has been featured on the national level rather extensively, particularly in the sports scene. The NBA used his song “Must Be the Water” as the theme song for the New Orleans-hosted All-Star Game. HBO used his song “Hard Knocks” for its 2009 football docuseries of the Cincinnati Bengals sharing the same name.
Three of Broussard’s albums have landed on the Billboard Top 200 list, a veteran-oriented list unlocked to musicians once they reach the Top 100 list. “S.O.S.: Save Our Soul,” a collection of covers and one original song that peaked at No. 97, is his one album to breach the top 100. Prior to that, “Carencro” peaked for Broussard at No. 30 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart.
Although the funk and blues that identified Broussard in his ascent is absent in his latest pop-oriented, self-titled album, the Atlantic Records-production saw commercial success, clocking in at No. 102 on the Billboard chart.
The common thread binding all of his work together is his voice and the emotion it conducts.
Broussard’s first influence was his father, Louisiana Hall of Fame guitarist Ted Broussard. Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder had a magnetic effect on Broussard, and he continues listening to them and other 60s-70s artists to this day. The voices of R&B artists Brian McKnight and Boyz II Men captivated him in his teenage years, and now, Broussard is turning more to rock ‘n’ roll, he said.
The progression of his own output, Broussard said, has been organic.
“I haven’t necessarily developed with any real intention as much as I’ve kind of let the forces of creativity flow whenever the time came to write for a new record,” Broussard said. “I don’t know if I was ever pushing for a certain kind of thing as opposed to being who I am and gravitating towards things that I like.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed taste for rock ‘n’ roll. I find that my writing is gravitating more towards rock ‘n’ roll than it is towards soul.”
The singer-songwriter may be reaching for music’s summit in recording studios, but he said he feels like he’s there with each of his 150 live shows each year.
“I forget who said it (Sir Thomas Beecham), but the beauty of music is that it releases us from the tyranny of conscious thought,” Broussard said. “What I get to do is bring people something that is very unique and often very foreign to their daily routines.”
One month before his Houma concert, Broussard was posted in Los Angeles, “right in the thick of the writing process” of what will be his sixth full-length album.
Broussard said it’s “very different from anything I’ve done previously” in its tone and perspective.
He delves into relationships, takes his first swing at “Cajun French” and the waltz for a song about a fishing camp on the Atchafalaya, and, in a song called “Am I Bound?,” he conveys “a revolution in the way that people think about truth. And I’ll leave it as vague as that.”
Broussard also collaborated with Swedish blues-rock musician Anders Osborne for one song on the upcoming album.
“I feel like I have a handful of songs that are ready to go,” Broussard said. “I’ll be writing over the next week or so to try to finish that whole thing up and hopefully we’ll hit the studio sometime next month. … If I could give one theme, it’s Louisiana, really.”
Vanguard Records, which oversaw “S.O.S.: Save Our Soul,” is the label producing the yet-to-be named album after Broussard’s split with Atlantic Records.
Broussard’s 75-minute Houma set is about a 4-to-1 split between familiar music, particularly songs from “Carencro,” and new songs, he said.
Chad Gilmore, of Metairie, handles the drums, and the keyboardist and bassist are Tennesseans, Broussard said. The guitar slot hasn’t been filled, but Broussard said his first choice is Roddie Romero of the Hub City All-Stars.
“We’re just going to turn it real loud and hopefully put some smiles on people’s faces and play a tune that people can dance to,” Broussard said.
Marc Broussard, a 30-year-old singer-songwriter from Carencro, headlines the Best of the Bayou Festival’s Day One slate on Sept. 29. Broussard said he’s writing material for what will be his sixth studio album.
