ChazFest Goes Abroad
4/29/26 The Broadside
New Orleans, LA
Twenty years ago New Orleans based musician Alex McMurray and his wife Kourtney Keller developed a local music festival, in-between Jazzfest weekends in New Orleans. The all day event would spotlight musicians from their Bywater neighborhood and was named after Washboard Chaz, who would also play with every act throughout the day. This year the festival returned, arriving at a new location, The Broadside in Mid-City, but a lot of friendly faces who played past ChazFest's were on hand to kick off this new era of the all day festival.
Arriving shortly after one o'clock I was lucky to catch the majority of Happy Talk Band's set. Their version of wandering heartbroken Americana played well in the afternoon heat. Efforts like "Pothole Heart" and "United" were extended yet restrained letting Luke Spurr Allen's lyrics take center stage as they tell tales of bad decisions mixed with bad luck and a small sprinkling of hopefulness. The heavier "Pack Your Bags" was a more rocking affair featuring meaty drums and electric guitar from McMurray who played with almost every act on the bill during this toasty New Orleans Wednesday.
Moving to the venue's inside, smaller stage the festival's namesake The Washboard Chaz Blues Trio delivered a set of tunes with a jazzy feel. The harmonica/washboard/jazz guitar combo was unique and flowed with ease. Cooling off with some AC from the heat was a must before the outdoor main stage was repopulated by the TBC Brass Band. Moving from the small intimate tunes of the trio to the large pumping brass seemed natural as "Bourbon Street Parade" flowed out with joy.
The group brought splashes of reggae, rock and soul to their traditional brass band offerings. "Hit The Road Jack" was a pumped up speedy adventure that segued perfectly into a grooving instrumental version of "Come Together". Washboard Chaz joined the group for some ganja inspired fun before things wrapped up. Back on the indoor stage the Remaining Geraniums took over. An alt-rock staple of the late 90's in New Orleans, The Geraniums were the partnership between Jeff Treffinger and Brendan Gallagher. With Gallagher passing away in 2021 Jeff, René Coman and the remaining members, with McMurray on guitar and Tiana Hux helping out on vocals, delivered their Wallflowers meets Leonard Cohen vibe to the appreciative crowd of friends and newcomers alike.
Next up on the main stage (and they needed every inch of it) was The Valparaiso Men's Chorus. Introduced as the "world's most dangerous party band in the land" the huge group, led by McMurray, delivered their, sing-along, sea shanty inspired offerings to the receptive crowd. Musically they used fiddles, tuba, trombone, piccolo, guitar and drums while the huge choir gave the songs extra energy on efforts like "Donkey Riding", "Blow The Man Down" and "Haul Away Joe". The large group is a blast live, as the energy overflows and on their best effort, the set closing "Drunken Sailor", the manic energy has a punk rock pirate ship feel flowing throughout.
Switching gears back on the smaller inside stage Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla brought a more subdued style to the show. The duo played an enchanting mix of bayou/Caribbean based tunes with gorgeous vocals and strings leading the way. The pair mentioned that they have been singing/playing together for over 10 years now and the inside venue was absolutely packed to see them perform their acoustic based, Cajun/Creole inspired set.
Back out on the large stage the gutter rock/soul outfit The Rough Seven kicked the energy back up with their unique brand of rock and roll. The noise rock spilled out from guitarist Rob Cambre as lead singer Ryan Scully delivered the bluesy heart wrenching vocals on efforts like "Had A Home". Stoo Odom and Mike Anderpoint held down the low end while Ratty Scurvics played keys and Dick Hukill added trombone flushing out the sound. The band was tight and loose at the same time, like all dangerous acts should be, with "Meltdown" cooking and "St. Anthony" soaring.
A cover of Etta James' "I Would Rather Go Blind" featured Washboard Chaz while Scully got righteous with political warnings around "God's Got It" and the noise rocking "Preacher By Day". The best was saved for last as the group's showstopping cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" was monstrous and inspiring.
With the crowd swelling the inside stage was abandoned and moved into the venue's walkway. This allowed more people to catch Helen Gillet's set. The artist uses her cello in unique ways adding angular art rock into her poetic vision. After the festivals namesake joined Gillet, adding some Washboard to the sounds, it was time to wrap up for me, so I unfortunately missed both Rory Danger & the Danger Dangers and Narcissy so my apologies to those artists who I am sure continued the friendly, good time vibes that were everywhere you looked all day long.
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