Yvette Landry & The Jukes - Louisiana Lovin' (2018)

Louisiana Lovin’ is a collaboration between Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Yvette Landry and fellow Lafayette, LA guitarist/vocalist Roddy Romero. The spark for the album grew out of an accidental recording session where Landry and Romero remade the only number one hit to come out of their city – Dale & Grace’s rendition of “I’m Leaving It Up To You.” It became a local hit and the two recognized a palpable chemistry that deserved further recording. They wanted to make a nostalgic album that would mirror the glory days of dance halls and juke joints in Louisiana.

The vision came to Landry quickly. She knew she wanted to record at Dockside Studios and she immediately had a good sense of who the players should be. The drummer, Jermaine Prejean, impressed Landry upon her rather casual visit to the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette eight years ago and she knew right then that she wanted to eventually record with him. Romero’s keyboard player, Eric Adcock was also a must. Landry called upon saxophonist Derek Huston to round out the ‘50s sound she was trying to recreate. These players were free and excited to join. Her own bass player, Josef Butts, completed the core sextet. Richard Comeaux (pedal steel) and Beau Thomas (fiddle) guest on select tracks.

Listening, you’d be surprised to know that the group that had never played together before. There were no rehearsals and most songs were done in just one take. Attribute that partly to chemistry but also to the heavily weighted Bobby Charles repertoire and deep knowledge of the classic Swamp Pop sound. There’s an inexplicable familiarity to these songs that draws you in, even if you didn’t grow up with them like Landry and her band did.

These eleven short crisp tunes are Louisiana songs except for Sara Evans’ “Three Chords and the Truth,” “My Last Date With You,” from Floyd Cramer and Skeeter Davis, and Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind.” It was important to acknowledge the late Lafayette singer/songwriter/pianist David Egan, so they cover his “Forbidden Love.” Other Louisiana covers include tunes from Warren Storm, Cookie and the Cupcakes, and G.G. Shinn.

The album opens with Landry singing alone for “I Need Somebody Bad” before Romero next duets with her for the touching Bobby Charles tune with beautiful piano from Adcock and fiddle from Thomas. Landry says, “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. My brother came to visit for a short while when we were recording Bobby Charles’ ‘Homesick Blues,” and it literally moved him to tears. When we finished, we went to listen to the track and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “Yvette…what just happened?” I responded, “Magic.’”

The cha-cha dancing rhythm follows with another up-tempo piano tune, “Daddy Daddy.” Romero’s innate feel for a bluesy guitar is evident in the ballad “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” and it’s no surprise that Romero will be a touring member of James House and the Blues Cowboys who are releasing their album next week. Hunter’s tune is a duet as well. “Three Chords and the Truth” is a showcase for Landry’s vocals with superb contributions from the guests on fiddle and pedal steel. Romero returns to duet on “My Last Date with You” and takes the lead on Charles’ “Grow Too Old” with Landry on harmony. Here, as on several others, Huston’s R&B sax is central to the sound. “Yer Yer Baby” is a call and response duet while Egan’s “Forbidden Love” is also deftly rendered as a duet. The closer, “Take It Easy Greasy” is a basic rock n’ roll dance tune with boogie-woogie piano that will get you shaking.

Hearken back to a more innocent time and bask in these old-time sounds. We could all use some blissful nostalgia these days. ~by Jim Hynes