Big Chief Monk Boudreaux - 2 albums: Won't Bow Down / Rising Sun

Album: Won't Bow Down
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:11
Size: 96.6 MB
Styles: Roots, Funk, Creole, New Orleans blues
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[3:43] 1. Monk's Mardi Gras
[3:27] 2. Don't Run Me Down
[3:27] 3. Footsteps
[5:02] 4. Don't Take My Flag Down
[6:44] 5. Four Horsemen
[2:58] 6. Lightning And Thunder
[3:56] 7. Gonna Set 'em On Fire
[4:30] 8. Mama's Song
[2:47] 9. Jam With Me
[5:35] 10. Education

Boudreaux credits the album’s producer Keven Brennan for the disc’s biographical theme. “He said, ‘Monk, let’s do some of that stuff that you be doing at your house all the time – that you’d be talking about,’” the Big Chief remembers.

The opening song, “Monk’s Mardi Gras,” begins much like a book might with Boudreaux in his clear voice speaking over the sound of drums: “Yeah, go back to when I was a kid, daddy wakin’ up at the break of dawn. He say he had to go and carry on.” The tune then jumps into the funk complete with horns and the provocative keyboards of Dr. John plus the repeated refrain, “Here comes Big Chief Monk.”

It was Monk’s father, Raymond, who was a member of the Creoles and Wild Squatoolas Mardi Gras Indian gangs, who introduced him to the culture. However Boudreaux didn’t mask with his dad. At age 12 he became the Second Spyboy for the White Eagles that was then led by the noted Big Chief Lawrence Fletcher. The gang changed its name to the Golden Eagles in 1962 and Monk took over as chief in the early 1970s. Remarkably, his father, who had left the tradition, came back to join Monk as his Second Chief in the Golden Eagles. ~Geraldine Wyckoff

Won't Bow Down mc
Won't Bow Down zippy

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Album: Rising Sun
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:56
Size: 112.0 MB
Styles: Roots, Funk, Creole, New Orleans blues
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[3:17] 1. Golden Crown
[4:11] 2. Dance With Me
[5:15] 3. Rising Sun
[3:53] 4. Swing Low Wounded Knee
[3:39] 5. Brothers
[3:28] 6. Whambam Medicine Man
[3:51] 7. The Promise
[3:36] 8. Hey Mama
[5:57] 9. Captain Kirk And Custer
[6:48] 10. Voodoo Woman
[4:56] 11. Iko Iko

The Mardi Gras Indians are as much a part of the spirit seared into the music of New Orleans as any other cultural icons. This combination of Native American, Creole, blues, and jazz sensibilities are all present in the get-down sounds of Golden Eagle, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and his Crescent City friends, romping and stomping their way through the streets and into your heart. Boudreaux's music is actually closer to roots rock & roll than anything else, with help from vocalist Reverend Goat Carson, various songwriters, and instrumental guests that truly let the good times roll. Excepting the poem and twangy blues on "Swing Low," and the boogie for "Captain Kirk & Custer," this is a program dedicated to the voodoo kings, medicine men, and occult figures of Southern myth and folklore, with infectious dance rhythms or shuffle as a priority. Some country music creeps in during "Brothers" with Carson's gravelly voice setting the tone, while "Hey Mama" is pure retro fun, and "Iko Iko" is as typically rooted in tradition as can be. Boudreaux himself sings and plays washboard or tambourine, but is more the spiritual leader of this band, incorporating modern electric guitars and an occasional jazz horn section in counterpoint to the traditional vibe at its base. As there are few commercial recordings in this style -- including the infamous Wild Tchoupitoulas -- Boudreaux's music reminds us where essentially all roots American music has come from, and continues to be living. ~Michael G. Nastos

Rising Sun mc
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