US road trip: into New Orleans

Our final evening before arriving in the Big Easy was spent in a couple of bars in Ocean Springs near Biloxi, the better of which was Mezo's Juke Joint, where we had a Mexican meal and quizzed each other on music groups with a connection with transport. As usual, John won as he never accepts defeat in such trivia challenges.
Next morning it was off to New Orleans, where we checked in to the Midtown Hotel. It's cheap and not in a very safe area but seems OK so far. In the evening we went into the French Quarter for a bite to eat at Coop's Place and then it was off to the Rock 'n' Bowl for the tribute to Bobby Charles, organised by Dr Ike, which turned out to be a great evening. When we arrived we had a chat with the owner John Blancher, who told us how the new Rock 'n' Bowl had risen from the ruins of the old place, which was badly damaged by Katrina. First on was Shannon McNally, who has just released an album of Bobby Charles songs called Small Town Talk. She's easy on the eye and has a good, if slightly harsh voice, but the set was one paced and never really got going. The highlight was the appearance on stage of Dr John, who played keyboards on several numbers including But I Do, Saving Jesus and Small Town Talk.
Much better was Beth McKee, who sang and played keyboards, along with guitarist Tommy Malone and the band, on excellent versions of Jealous Kind, Walkin' To New Orleans and See You Later Alligator. Better still, and I still haven't quite come down yet, was the fabulous Louisiana super group Lil Band Of Gold. Warren Storm has left the band, but C C Adcock, Steve Riley and David Egan remain, backed by some great musicians, including sax man Dicky Landry. The band kicked off with C C Adcock singing Bobby Charles's Hanging Out With The Street People and moved on to Steve Riley on Before I Grow Too Old. C C said that Tommy McLean, who usually appears with them and who recorded the song in the 60s, was ill. The band followed this with Done Most Everything, an answer song written by C C which apparently had not pleased Bobby at the time. The rest of the set was a mixture of beautiful swamp pop, with David Egan singing Jealous Kind and his own Dreamer, and high tempo rock/Cajun, with C C and Steve sharing vocals on the other numbers including Teenagers (a Bobby Charles song I hadn't heard before) and Please Forgive Me If I Cry. This was all first class stuff - the band really knows how to rock. Finally Shannon McNally came back on stage to duet on He's Got All The Money before the band finished off with See You Later Alligator again. Altogether, a really great night, and a fantastic start to the New Orleans leg of our trip.
Nick Cobban.