SOUL SINGER IRONING BOARD SAM FUELS HIS LIVE SHOWS WITH OFF-BEAT INVENTIONS, NEW ALBUM ‘SUPER SPIRIT’ (OCTOBER 2 / BIG LEGAL MESS)

INFAMOUS UNDERWATER SET AT NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FEST '79 AMONG NOTABLES

Ironing Board Sam has been playing music for more than half a century, whipping up a large catalog of soul songs and blues tunes along the way. He's earned a reputation as a singer, songwriter and acclaimed keyboardist. Thanks to a handful of inventions, though — many of which have become staples of his live show — Ironing Board Sam has also become one of the most colorful, charismatic showmen in modern music. He makes his Big Legal Mess debut on October 2 with ‘Super Spirit.’ Album teaser video.

Case in point: the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1979, when Sam played a set of soul music while submerged inside a fluid-filled water tank. To avoid electrocution, he rigged up a safety system that included water-tight plastic bags and a glass helmet. Check out pics and a description of the set here.

Sam was already a local favorite by that time, having played gigs in the Crescent City with his infamous "ironing board keyboard" — a portable keyboard attached to an ironing board with 64 buttons that were connected to tacks via telephone wires (and activated with a ring on his finger). This contracption gave Sam his unique name and also predated the keytar by at least 10 years — since the early 1960s. A young Jimi Hendrix even climbed onstage with him during those early days and described Sam’s wild stage show as an influence. It was the New Orleans Jazz Fest, though, that helped elevate Sam to cult status.

As the decades went on, Ironing Board Sam continued playing shows while also working on new inventions. His various contraptions include; the "human jukebox" costume, wherein Sam sat inside a jukebox on Bourbon Street and, after tourists deposited their money, played their selections for them; a remote microphone; a clavinet rigged with guitar strings; and a portable air-pollution control system, which was sadly never built.

“CAPTIVATING” (MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL) EDEN BRENT ALBUM COVER INCLUDES NOD TO MISSISSIPPI DELTA PIANO MENTOR BOOGALOO AMES

RAVES FROM NASHVILLE SCENE, WASHINGTON POST, KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL, MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL

CONCERT TAPED FOR BEALE STREET CARAVAN SYNDICATED RADIO SHOW

Mississippi Delta pianist, songwriter, and emotive singer Eden Brent nods to her mentor Boogaloo Ames on the album cover of ‘Jigsaw Heart,’ out last week on Yellow Dog Records. There’s an Ampex 456 tape box front and center. “That’s Boogaloo!’” she exclaims. The cover art, as vivacious as Eden’s own spirit, is by fellow Mississippian H.C. Porter as part of her Blues @ Home series, which captures Mississippi blues musicians in their homes.

Abie “Boogaloo “Ames took Brent as an apprentice for 16 years, as portrayed in the 1999 PBS documentary “Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound.” After they met when he played at her sister’s wedding, he took her under his wing. The duo played concerts together in the Mississippi Delta region and beyond, where Brent was raised and still makes her home and where she is now known as Little Boogaloo.

This month, The Nashville Scene wrote of her, "Her sophisticated command and creative breadth grow with each album, including the just-released Jigsaw Heart, which teams Brent with Nashville-based roots-music MVP Colin Linden as her producer... her live shows bring bawdy spirit and sprightly sophistication to her free-ranging mix of Americana, blues and jazz, driven by her superb keyboard technique and warm Mississippi drawl."

The Washington Post Express ran a feature on Brent, who made her New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival debut this year.

She taped a May concert for syndicated radio program Beale Street Caravan and also taped a video session for Birthplace Sessions, on the property of Elvis Presley’s birthplace.

Memphis Commercial Appeal calls her “captivating,” continuing, “her music combines Bluff City grit with Crescent City swing.”

Meanwhile, the Knoxville News-Sentinel said, "Plays and sings with soul and style. The uptempo tracks are a lot of fun, but Brent really shines on the torchier numbers, including the fine title track, and the easygoing songs... The latter includes some cool piano and slide guitar interplay that’s truly sweet."

EDEN BRENT CONFIRMS 'JIGSAW HEART' TOUR DATES WITH NEW AMERICANA ALBUM OUT MAY 6

Eden Brent — the acclaimed singer/pianist/songwriter who has been compared to Lucinda Williams and Norah Jones — has confirmed new tour dates soon after the release of her new album 'Jigsaw Heart' (May 6 / Yellow Dog Records). The new album is her most heartrending to date and was recorded at historic RCA Victor Nashville Sound Studios and produced by Colin Linden (Williams, Lindi Ortega). CMT Edge says that 'Jigsaw Heart' "sounds like it could've come out of 1970s Nashville."

She kicks off the string of dates with a New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival appearance May 2 at 12:25pm in the Blues tent.

5/2/2014 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
5/7/2014 - Nashville, TN- Family Wash
5/8/2014 - Memphis, TN - BB King's (afternoon)
5/9/2014 - Memphis, TN - Center For Southern Folklore
5/14/2013 - New York, NY - Iridium Jazz Club
5/15/2014 - Washington, DC - Hill Country
5/24/2014 - Sedan, KS - Chautauqua Hill Blues Festival
5/25/2014 - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads Saloon
5/30/2014 - Charlotte, NC - The Double Door
6/13/2014 - Chicago, IL - Buddy Guys Legends
6/14/2013 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Blues Fest ("Meet Me In Memphis" Stage)
6/21/2014 - Flagstaff, AZ - Flagstaff Blues & Brews
7/9/2014 - Clymer, NY - Peek'n Peak Resort

American Songwriter premiered the video for "Everybody Already Knows."

EDEN BRENT MAKES NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL DEBUT MAY 2 ON EVE OF NEW ALBUM 'JIGSAW HEART,' OUT MAY 6 ON YELLOW DOG RECORDS

Eden Brent – the Mississippi chanteuse and piano mistress called "irresistibly fresh" by NPR.org – will make her New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival debut May 2.

A former highlight of WWOZ's Piano Night during JazzFest week, Brent made her acclaimed 2010 album 'Ain't Got No Troubles' in the Crescent City. For her new release 'Jigsaw Heart' (May 6 / Yellow Dog Records), she traveled to Nashville, TN to record with renowned producer Colin Linden (Lucinda Williams, Lindi Ortega). The resulting album is an artistic high-water mark for the Mississippian, her piano-pounding prowess counterbalanced with vocals and songwriting that recall a grittier Norah Jones in their emotional depth.

INFLUENCES OF NEW YORK, NEW ORLEANS, AND HAITI COMBINE TO PRESENT LEYLA MCCALLA'S LP 'VARI-COLORED SONGS: A TRIBUTE TO LANGSTON HUGHES' (FEB. 4 / MUSIC MAKER)

FAMILY HERITAGE, LANGSTON HUGHES' "COMPASS," ALAN LOMAX RECORDING, AND HER OWN OPENNESS LEAD HER TO CREATE "AMBITIOUS, DEEP, GORGEOUS" (OFFBEAT MAGAZINE) DEBUT ALBUM

"A HARBINGER OF A TOWERING CAREER" – SING OUT

A tribute to Langston Hughes comes out of the interconnected worlds of New York, NY; New Orleans, LA; and Haiti for Leyla McCalla, marking the release of 'Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes' (February 4 / Music Maker Relief Foundation) the stunning debut album of the cellist/vocalist and former Carolina Chocolate Drops member.

"Hughes begins his book 'I Wonder As I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey' by traveling around Haiti," she points out. McCalla herself has undertaken a similar journey. Born and raised in the New York, NY area into a Haitian immigrant family, she adopted the Crescent City as her hometown.

She explains, "After I moved to New Orleans, I read Ned Sublette's [book] The World That Made New Orleans and I was blown away by how much Haiti was mentioned. There are so many Louisianans with Haitian origins. What is Cajun? What is Creole? There's so much overlap in cultures. Langston Hughes' work is all about providing history from a black perspective; He provides a good compass."

Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops lent McCalla a box set of Haitian folk music as she was preparing 'Vari-Colored Songs.' McCalla arranged "Kamèn sa w fè" by Ago Fixè from the Alan Lomax recording of Ago’s Bal Band made on Christmas Day, 1937 in Port-au-Prince. "What a great groove," she says.

Leyla recalls, "I discovered that there are different lines of Haitian folk music and heard recordings with ties to France and Africa. I fell in love with the troubadours in particular. It's a banjo tradition of rustic countryside music, old but also Haitian. The melodies so irregular, not like anything I had heard before in other types of music." "Manman Mwen," "Latibonit," "Mesi Bondye" also come out of the traditions of Haiti. "Dad helped me a lot, translating lyrics," she says.

She has traveled to Haiti each of the past three years and her mother lives here now, working in international development, each trip inspiring her to create 'Vari-Colored Songs.'

The traditional New Orleans song "Changing Tide" joins the album as well, a symbol of her present home and of its and her eclectic heritage. In fact, she played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2012.

Tour dates: http://www.leylamccalla.com/tour/

Sing Out Magazine has raved, "What a voice, more Billie Holiday than anything, flourishing in such bare surroundings and bringing the words, whether joyous or dark, to life… As arranger, musician and vocalist she’s a remarkable talent, and this debut is assured and a harbinger of a towering career."

"True Maverick" (eMusic) Ironing Board Sam, Jazz Fest & Night Train TV Alum To Release Hard-Hitting New Soul & Funk Album Featuring Special Guests The Memphis Horns

Double Bang, the new album from Ironing Board Sam, emphasizes that this artist has not only come back, but he’ll be around for a long time. The new two-CD album will be released July 9 by Music Maker Relief Foundation in partnership with Dixiefrog Records. Double Bang features 12 new tracks written/recorded by Ironing Board Sam during the past two years, recorded by Ardie Dean in Alabama and featuring backup by the Memphis Horns. The album also includes Sam’s first album on the Music Maker label, Going Up, and singles Sam released on various labels in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sam’s most recent album, Ninth Wonder of the World of Music, was released in 2012, also on the Music Maker label. eMusic said, "'Ninth Wonder' is a superb album for anyone interested in hearing a true maverick at work.... Here’s the most entertaining eight tracks and nearly 22 minutes of blues-based music likely to be released this year, and it should leave you longing for more."

Offbeat Magazine described Ironing Board Sam's 'The Ninth Wonder of the World of Music' as "a gem" in a profile last year.

Read the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s account of Sam’s illustrious career here.

In 2012 Sam was named “Comeback Artist of the Year” by Living Blues Magazine, made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2013 Sam performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Australia, and will be traveling for gigs all over the USA. At age 72, Sam feels like his career is finally where he wants it to be. “This album is the culmination of my lifelong quest. Fifty years of work towards my artistic vision has finally been achieved,” he said.

Tim Duffy, founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation, says, “Sam has had a truly remarkable journey through life. I have been a personal fan of his since seeing his tour bus on the streets of Asheville in 1981, but Sam has been amazing audiences throughout the South since the 1950s. He was featured on the first African-American televised music revue, The Night Train. Jimi Hendrix backed him up on the Chitlin’ Circuit in the 1960s. He has a place as an important figure in the history of Blues, largely unrecognized until now. With this album he is cementing his place as one of the most talented and hard working R&B artists out there. This album is truly a masterpiece that Sam has created and needs to share with the world.”

Ironing Board Sam has also been the focus this year of a documentary film, Tenth, by filmmaker Tom Ciaburri. Ciaburri used the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to fund finishing the film and releasing it at festivals nationwide. Tom describes Sam’s music as, “Sam beams positivity that comes out in his music – he is an amazingly talented musician who is only getting better with time. “ Tenth is now funded and will be completed in the coming year.

The Sydney Morning Herald said of Sam’s recent tour in Australia with the Music Maker Blues Revue, “Ironing Board Sam, 73 years young, sang like his pants were on fire and attacked his keyboard as if it had sinned.”

Double Bang will be officially released on July 9th, and can be purchased at the Music Maker Store.

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About Music Maker Relief Foundation:

Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. is a tax exempt, public charity under IRS code 501(c)3. Music Maker aims to keep our Southern culture vital by directly supporting senior (over 55) American roots musicians in need, expanding their professional careers, and providing with basic life needs so they can focus on their art. Music Maker also assists Next Generation (under 55) artists in the development of their professional careers. Since the organization’s founding in 1994, Music Maker has assisted hundreds of musicians who represent the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Old-Time String Band, Jazz and more. Music Maker’s programs ensure the talents of these cultural treasures are accessible so that our rich musical heritage can be shared with the world and preserved for future generations.

Living Blues’ Comeback Artist of the Year, Ironing Board Sam, keeps it coming with new album

Ironing Board Sam just keeps coming back – this time with a new two-CD album Double Bang, released by Music Maker Relief Foundation in partnership with Dixiefrog Records. Double Bang features 13 entirely new tracks written by Ironing Board Sam during the past two years, recorded by Ardie Dean in Alabama and featuring backup by the Memphis Horns. The album also includes Sam’s first album on the Music Maker label, Going Up, and several singles Sam released on various labels in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

In 2012 Sam was named “Comeback Artist of the Year” by Living Blues Magazine, made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and released his second album on the Music Maker label, Ninth Wonder of the World of Music. In 2013 Sam performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Australia, will be traveling for gigs all over the USA, and is set to release his third album in two years. At age 72, Sam feels like his career is finally where he wants it to be. “This album is the culmination of my lifelong quest. Fifty years of work towards my artistic vision has finally been achieved,” he said.

Tim Duffy, Founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation, says, “Sam has had a truly remarkable journey through life. I have been a personal fan of his since seeing his tour bus on the streets of Asheville in 1981, but Sam has been amazing audiences throughout the South since the 1950s. Jimi Hendrix backed him up on the Chitlin’ Circuit in the 1960s. He has a place as an important figure in the history of Blues, largely unrecognized until now. With this album he is cementing his place as one of the most talented and hard working Boogie Woogie artists out there. This album is truly a masterpiece that Sam has created and needs to share with the world.”

Ironing Board Sam has also been the focus this year of a documentary film, Tenth, by filmmaker Tom Ciaburri. Ciaburri is launching a Kickstarter to finish the film and release it at festivals nationwide. Tom describes Sam’s music as, “Sam beams positivity that comes out in his music – he is an amazingly talented musician who is only getting better with time. “

Double Bang will be officially released on July 9^th, and can be purchased at musicmaker.org. A special pre-sale of Double Bang will also occur from Jun 3^rd through 7^th, on musicmaker.org.

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About Music Maker Relief Foundation:

Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. is a tax exempt, public charity under IRS code 501(c)3. Music Maker aims to keep our Southern culture vital by directly supporting senior (over 55) American roots musicians in need, expanding their professional careers, and providing with basic life needs so they can focus on their art. Music Maker also assists Next Generation (under 55) artists in the development of their professional careers. Since the organization’s founding in 1994, Music Maker has assisted hundreds of musicians who represent the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Old-Time String Band, Jazz and more. Music Maker’s programs ensure the talents of these cultural treasures are accessible so that our rich musical heritage can be shared with the world and preserved for future generations.