Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel include: Dr. John (vocals, piano); B.B. King (vocals, guitar); Mavis Staples, Randy Newman, Willie Nelson (vocals); Nicholas Payton (trumpet); Dirty Dozen Brass Band (brass); Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Earl Palmer, Snooks Eaglin, Wardell Quezerque, Willie Tee. | | Recording information: Piety Street Studios, New Orleans, Lousiana. | | In which Mac "Dr. John" Rebbenack puts the lie to the notion that duet albums are just artless, opportunistic photo-ops. For one thing, there's a theme at work here: Dr. John's New Orleans musical roots. For another, most of the guests, appropriately are New Orleans-born musicians--Eddie Bo, Cyril Neville, Dave Bartholomew, Randy Newman (he may love L.A., but he wasn't born there). And despite the considerable star power, there's no overt stab at commerciality here; most of the tracks are full of the murky, moody, swamp atmosphere familiar from Rebennack's spooky early albums. | | Dr. John has never strayed terribly far from the New Orleans sound, but on N'AWLINZ: DIS DAT OR D'UDDA he embraces it wholeheartedly, both musically and in subject matter. Some of the tunes are standard repertoire--"St. James Infirmary," "When the Saints Go Marching In"--but even those are given a fresh spin as the doctor digs in with his incisive, bluesy piano and gritty, positively lascivious singing. Perhaps most importantly, he's backed by some of the heaviest New Orleans session musicians (drummer Earl Palmer, the aforementioned Bartholomew on trumpet), ensuring a true Louisiana feel. |
Producer: Stewart Levine |
Musical Guests | | B.B. King | | Mavis Staples | | Randy Newman | | Nicholas Payton | | Snooks Eaglin | | Willie Nelson | | Dirty Dozen Brass Band | | Cyril Neville | | The Mardi Gras Indians | | Dave Bartholomew | | Eddie Bo | | Willie Tee | | Leroy Jones |
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