Honey Island Swamp Band - Demolition Day (2016)

Named after a very real swamp that lies near the border of Louisiana and Mississippi, the Honey Island Swamp Band is aptly named, with a rootsy sound that incorporates the best of both states. The group's music is a swampy mix of blues, soul, country, R&B, and the rhythms of the group's hometown, New Orleans. The band didn't come together in New Orleans, though, but formed instead in San Francisco, where Aaron Wilkinson (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Chris Mule (guitar, vocals), Sam Price (bass, vocals), and Garland Paul (drums, vocals) were all evacuees from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The band relocated back to New Orleans in 2007, adding Trevor Brooks on the Hammond B-3 organ and other keyboards in 2010. Described as "bayou Americana," the band released a seven-song self-titled EP, Honey Island Swamp Band, in 2008, following it with a full-length album, Wishing Well, a year later in 2009. Good to You appeared in 2010, and the group's raucous appearance at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was preserved on the album Live at Jazz Fest 2011. Honey Island Swamp Band's 2012 stand at the New Orleans Jazz Fest was also released as a live album, with the studio set Cane Sugar arriving in 2013. In 2016, the group teamed up with the independent Ruf Records label to release its fourth full-length studio album, Demolition Day.