Li’l Band O’ Gold
Continental Club, Thursday, Mar 16
With their debut release on Shanachie Records only weeks away, this band of Louisiana All-Stars blew through the jam-packed Continental Club like a Gulf Coast cyclone. Fronted by roots-drenched guitarist C.C. Adcock and button-accordionist Steve Riley from Mamou Playboys fame, with swamp-pop legend/drummer Warren Storm and a three-man saxophone section anchored by Dickey Landry (“Lafayette’s first bohemian’), Li’l Band O’ Gold rocked the rafters with an ass-kicking set of high-steppin’ Cajun reels, pungent swamp pop, low-down blues, and good Crescent City rock & roll. They effectively rotated vocal chores roughly according to musical genres with Storm handling the swamp ballads, Riley the Cajun tunes, and Adcock the rockers. A nicely arranged and upbeat rendering of a Balfa Brothers’ Mardi Gras anthem, and a scorching send-up of Little Richard’s “Lucille” were only two of many highpoints. Louisiana music is such a zesty melange of overlapping styles and influences that it’s a musical world unto itself. LBOG brings it all together as one big rollicking party. Let ’em roll!This article appears in March 24 • 2000.