NY Times: Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" a Folk Song for Many Artists, an Anthem for New Orleans

Randy Newman will have a considerable presence at this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest). Not only will he perform there this Thursday at 4 PM, on the Gentilly Stage, but his song "Louisiana 1927" will also find its way through a number of different interpretations by other Jazz Fest performers, reports the New York Times, not least the Neville Brothers, who will close the festival with their set on Sunday. The song, which Randy wrote in 1974 about an early 20th-century flood in the region and its political ramifications, has taken on new meaning since the floods following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and their aftermath.

In the Times article, writer Geoffrey Himes examines the song's rich history, and how, over the years, particularly after 2005, it has become both an anthem (because, as blues singer Marcia Ball, a Louisiana native, tells Himes, it has "'one of those simple, irresistible Randy Newman melodies and lyrics that were so real'") and "also a modern-day folk song that gains new lyrics as singers adapt it to new circumstances."

Randy has performed the song on two Nonesuch albums: his Songbook Vol. 1, in a solo piano version released two years before Katrina, and Our New Orleans, featuring the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra with members of the New York Philharmonic, recorded shortly after the floods, with album proceeds going to benefit Habitat for Humanity's relief efforts in the city.

To read the article, visit nytimes.com. For more on Jazz Fest 2008, visit nojazzfest.com.