Phases and Stages

Ponderosa Stomp

Continental Club, Friday, March 17

"In another time and in another place, we could be so together." Gulf Coast sentimentality endures the winds of change as artists from New Orleans to Galveston work to preserve long-standing traditions threatened by hurricane and physical displacement. Serving as the Ponderosa Stomp house band, Lafayette's Lil Band o Gold kicked off the marathon evening with an opening set that sounded like a Tiger Stadium tailgate party tastes. Guitarist C.C. Adcock cooked up a roux of swamp stomp as he shared the lead with Steve Riley on accordion and songwriter David Egan on keyboard. One by one, a slew of living legends, including singer Tommy McLain, guitarist Lil' Buck Sinegal, songstress Barbara Lynn, wiseacre vocalist Roy Head, sublime pianist Eddie Bo, Grand Marshal Al Johnson, and motivational funkateer Archie Bell, graced the Continental stage with a half century's worth of deep emotional entrapment. Admirers swooned, couples danced in warm embrace, and special memories resurfaced with an emphasis on shared communal mores. As the pressure cooker of SXSW searches aimlessly for the next big thing, this mélange of blues, soul, and rock & roll made the old-timers of the bayou the hippest ticket in town.