Dressed casually in black jeans and a red pullover sweater, Blues Music Awards’ former Piano Player of the Year and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year made a confession: “Usually, I wear a dress and cross my legs—and play with a band! I’m not that relaxed!” But no one at The Bugle Boy’s January 31 concert would have ever guessed. Enjoying the intimate setting of a small stage, great acoustics and laid-back atmosphere, the sold-out crowd welcomed four-time Grammy nominee Marcia Ball, and the instant her fingers touched the keyboards, it became clear: nothing, at all, was missing from this show.

Performing, primarily, songs she had written, Marcia very quickly connected with her audience, leaving no emotional stone unturned. Her lyrics address every aspect of the human condition. From the tragedy of the Louisiana hurricanes to the joy found in simple pleasures, Marcia sang of everything from leaky roofs, watermelons and two-timing men to little blue houses, mama’s cookin’ and voodoo juice.

Growing up in the Golden Triangle is what has given her music a heavy dose of Cajun influence. Born in Orange, Texas, she spent most of her youth “on the party side of the Sabine River.” In her latest CD, “Peace, Love and BBQ,” songs like the title cut, along with “Party Town,” give the listener a clue that Marcia is, most probably, never too far away from the next good time. And yet, there is a serious side to this 2010 Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame inductee.

“Where Do You Go?” poignantly speaks to the broken lives of the displaced victims of hurricane Katrina—a subject near and dear to her heart. Shortly after Katrina, she “with a lot of help from friends,” held a benefit concert to help NOLA Relief, a project with which she is still very involved. “This [tragedy] is not over. These people are still rebuilding. I have a lot of friends in New Orleans; it is a part of me.”

Last year, Marcia Ball’s Great Big Birthday Bash celebrated the singer/songwriter/pianist’s 60th birthday in a successful, fun-filled three day event that brought in $106K. In keeping with her mission to help those less fortunate, proceeds were given to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and to Sweet Home New Orleans.

It’s been a long road from the days of Freda and the Firedogs to becoming the success that she is today, and yet Marcia admits that she takes nothing for granted. “Many of us [musicians] stand at the threshold of every New Year, and every new calendar, and think ‘Hmmmm. Is this going to work?’ It’s always a challenge to watch the calendar fill up; and you realize it’s ‘not just about me.’…I have other people counting on me for groceries.”

But the calendar continues to fill, and Marcia continues to do what she does best: bring to her audience a blend of rhythm and blues, Cajun, zydeco and what The Boston Globe refers to as “An irresistible, celebratory blend of rollicking, two-fisted New Orleans piano, Louisiana Swamp rock and smoldering Texas blues….”

Marcia says, “I love what I do and I’m very well suited to this. I like traveling, meeting people, playing—of course–, and I love writing.”

Working on a new CD, continuing to travel and perform, and enjoying her family certainly keeps her date book “penned in” to the max. And yet, she makes time to bring her Cajun-flavored Louisiana/Texas talent to the smaller venues like The Bugle Boy. “I do about four solo gigs a year. This is a terrific place. I have played in similar venues, but there are not many like this, particularly in our region. It takes someone like Lane to make it work, someone who puts their heart and soul into it. It’s truly a labor of love.”

Abraham Ybarra traveled from New Braunfels for this concert. “Ann and I come here because of the listening room quality. You can actually hear the artists and their lyrics. We love the personal interaction with the performers.”

After more than two hours of an entertaining musical salute to the lives, lies, loves and luck (good or bad) of everyday people, followed by a thunderous standing ovation, it was obvious that, in jeans or a dress, with or without a band, relaxed or not, Marcia Ball is welcome at The Bugle Boy. There was her occasional, “I miss my drummer,” and the humorously noted “The sax goes here”; but the listeners were given the two main ingredients for a fabulous Sunday afternoon show: Marcia and her keyboard.

And—with apologies to the band—on this day nothing seemed to be missing. Nothing at all.

You can support the work of The Bugle Boy with an online donation to The Bugle Boy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Tags: Artist Interview: Marcia Ball, Conversation with the Artist

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Artist Interviews, Connie Strong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.