Voices of the Wetlands Allstars

Voices of the Wetlands All-stars – Grammy Nominee Louisiana’s #1 roots music export and Grammy Nominee Tab Benoit has assembled a stellar ensemble of fellow New Orleans musicians (including N.O. Legends, The Meters and Neville Brothers, Cyril Neville, fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux, influential New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich, harmonica/accordion player Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone, and New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux to forge a musical plea for the fragile eco-system that is the increasingly depleted wetlands surrounding their hometown. In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, the chorus of the group’s otherwise savory, funk-charged opening song “Bayou Breeze”–“Don’t let the water wash us away”–now seems like a haunting, unheeded warning recorded eight months before disaster struck. Armed with songs like, “We Ain’t Gonna Lose No More (Without a Fight),” they are taking to task an administration that’s ignored the urgent needs of their homeland in favor of misadventure in Iraq. As well as songs like “Louisiana Sunshine” that continue to focus largely on environmental concerns that grow more urgent with every tropical storm that gathers in the Gulf, it’s also a show that is rife with New Orleans’ cross-cultural musical joie de vivre, as witnessed by Benoit and Osborne’s Cajun-seasoned “We Make a Good Gumbo” and the slinky African rhythms of Monk Boudreaux’s “Me Donkey Want Water.” The band’s music sounds like Louisiana Rock, Funk, Soul, and Cajun classics that have risen from years of music history and the environment that the music comes from. The Voices of the Wetlands Organization formed the first national out-reach program to educate and make the public aware that Louisiana was in danger; the refineries that line the coast of Louisiana were unprotected due to years of neglect by locals and oil companies. We all knew that our culture was already fading but if you can connect a direct relationship to Louisiana and the rest of the US, then maybe our elected politicians would take notice and vote for the issues that were important to the people and the culture of Louisiana. That relationship that makes most people take notice is drawn from the rich OIL and GAS industry that dwells under Louisiana and off its shores. After every hurricane now, you will see gas prices rise and they never come back down to where they once were. “We have brought a lot of attention through these legendary musicians who are at their musical prime. They are pioneers of a sound and style that is indigenous to Louisiana’s wetlands and every performance is filled with passion.” –Rueben Williams of the Thunderbird Management Group/Voice of the Wetlands Organization The Voice of the Wetlands All-stars has appeared at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions and appears annually at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival in Houma, Louisiana. If there is one group that encapsulates the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, it is the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, an improbable cooperative with a cause.