The Center’s ground-breaking ceremony in 2007 was more than a few men in suits with shovels. The event was celebrated with music featuring Connick, Branford and Ellis Marsalis, and several of the residents from the Village. As the homes filled, musicians began to gather on the porches and jam into the night. FINDING A WAY HOME Aaron Wilkinson, Chris Mulé, Sam Price, and Garland Paul knew of each other from the New Orleans music scene. When they found themselves 2200 miles away and living in San Francisco after the storm, they began performing weekly at the famous Boom Boom Room. The line-up named themselves Honey Island Swamp Band and released the award-winning debut Wishing Well. Wishing Well won Best Blues Album of 2009 by OffBeat
Magazine and was named Best Emerging Artist of 2009 and Best Roots Rock Artist of 2010. As the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approached, the men felt compelled to write about their displacement and return to the city channeled through blues and soulful style. Their album Demolition Day has been compared to legendary Blue-Roots-Rock artists like Little Feat and The Band and The Allman Brothers. The album was recorded at Parlor Studio in New Orleans and produced by Luther Dickinson, the leader of the North Mississippi Allstars and former Black Crowes guitarist. “We had a very tight window to record,” Wilkinson recalled about recording the album, “and really pack a lot of emotion into each take.” The band decided to record on two-inch tape to create an old-school, authentic analog sound. The song “Head High Water Blues” reflects specifically on the band members’ Hurricane Katrina experience over the past ten
WORK-ABLE•EDITION 7 NO. 3•THEMILLMAGAZINE.COM
49