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Marcia Ball

For more than 30 years, Ball has been delivering her signature brand of Texas blues, Louisiana R&B and Gulf Coast swamp pop to audiences all over the world. She has earned a huge and intensely loyal following through critically acclaimed albums and continued non-stop touring. Live, she’s simply unbeatable.

Previously, the only way for Marcia Ball’s fans to hear one of her stellar live performances was to see her in person. But now that all changes, as Ball rewards her fans with her first-ever full-length live album, the Grammy-nominated “Live! Down The Road,” a blistering set recorded at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in 2004. Ball gives each song the workout of a lifetime, reinventing and reinvigorating every track with the immediacy and fire only a live show can deliver.

After recording nine previous albums, Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 and released the critically acclaimed “Presumed Innocent,” which took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for “Blues Album of the Year.” Her follow-up,”So Many Rivers,” was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” as well as the coveted “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year” award. In 2005 and 2006, the Blues Music Awards honored Ball as the “Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year.”

Born in Orange, Texas, in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. She began taking piano lessons at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother’s collection. From her aunt, Marcia heard more modern and popular music. But it wasn’t until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the blues, as she sat amazed while Irma Thomas delivered the most soulful and spirited performance the young teenager had ever seen. According to Ball, “She just blew me away; she caught me totally unaware. Once I started my own band, the first stuff I was doing was Irma’s.” In 1966, she attended Louisiana State University, where she played some of her very first gigs with a blues-based rock band called Gum.

In 1970 Ball set out for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, Texas, and while waiting for repairs, she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn’t long before Ball was performing in the city’s clubs with a progressive country band called Freda and the Firedogs, while beginning to hone her songwriting skills. It was around this time that Ball delved deeply into the music of the great New Orleans piano players, especially Professor Longhair. “Once I found out about Professor Longhair,” recalls Ball, “I knew I had found my direction.”

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20
Album Review

Various artists: Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Read "Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music" reviewed by Jim Trageser


Maybe this half-century commemoration of the jny: Chicago-based, blues-focused label should have been titled, “The Last of the Independents." Almost alone of the mid-major labels that formerly thrived in the 1980s and '90s by specializing in non-mainstream styles of music, Alligator has managed to navigate stunning changes in the music business--from the vinyl of LPs and 45s to cassettes and CDs, and then, most recently, the virtual collapse of the retail record business and wholesale pivot to online ...

8
Catching Up With

Marcia Ball: Still excited about the music

Read "Marcia Ball: Still excited about the music" reviewed by Jim Trageser


Looking back some 15 years, blues singer and pianist Marcia Ball says the old San Diego Street Scene was one of her favorite gigs on her calendar each year. Modeled after jny: New Orleans' Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Street Scene featured jazz, blues, R&B, Cajun, Creole, zydeco, bluegrass, folk and worldbeat in a three-day stew of music and food. “I loved playing on that stage with all my friends," she remembered in a phone interview from her ...

169
Album Review

Marcia Ball: Live! Down the Road

Read "Live! Down the Road" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Marcia Ball showcases one great slow-rolling blues here: “Louisiana 1927, Randy Newman's dust bowl tale about a historic flood, into which she wholeheartedly dives and immerses herself. In perhaps her best singing of this entire set, she recoils from its last line as if in horror from nature's awesome devastation of person and property.

But throughout the rest of this set, this composer, pianist, and singer--and current owner of the W.C. Handy Awards for Contemporary Blues Female Artist ...

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13

Performance / Tour

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Philadelphia

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Philadelphia

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her Grammy-nominated Alligator Records CD, Roadside Attractions, will perform on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans everywhere. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won her ...

54

Performance / Tour

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Wilmington

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Wilmington

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her Grammy-nominated Alligator Records CD, Roadside Attractions, will perform live on Friday, February 17, 2012 at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans everywhere. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have ...

115

Performance / Tour

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Sellersville

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Sellersville

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her latest Alligator Records CD, Roadside Attractions, will perform live on Thursday, December 29, 2011 at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans everywhere. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won ...

72

Performance / Tour

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball Celebrates New Release in Philadelphia

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball Celebrates New Release in Philadelphia

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

"Based in Austin and steeped in New Orleans, Marcia Ball plumbs the richness of both musical meccas. From rootsy swamp pop and blues-drenched boogie woogie to languid ballads, Ball is equally comfortable with brash roadhouse romps and caressing love songs." —USA Today

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball will celebrate the release of her new Alligator Records CD, Roadside Attractions, on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at the World Music Cafe in Philadelphia. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving ...

123

Performance / Tour

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Camden

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Camden

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

"A sensational, saucy singer and superb pianist...where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet."—USA TODAY

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her Grammy-nominated CD Peace, Love & BBQ, will perform at the Camden Waterfront Backyard BBQ in Camden on Sunday, September 5, 2010. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking ...

114

Performance / Tour

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in New Hope

Pianist/Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in New Hope

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her Grammy-nominated CD, Peace, Love & BBQ, will perform in New Hope on Thursday, August 12, 2010. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won her ...

169

Performance / Tour

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Sellersville, PA

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball to Perform in Sellersville, PA

Source: Michael Ricci

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball, touring in support of her Grammy-nominated CD, Peace, Love & BBQ, will perform in Sellersville on March 16, 2010. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won her a loud ...

106

Video / DVD

Marcia Ball at the Highline Ballroom

Marcia Ball at the Highline Ballroom

Source: All About Jazz

New York, NY -- Fresh off the release of her new studio album Peace, Love, and BBQ, critically acclaimed contemporary blues artist Marcia Ball (Alligator Records) is on the road and bringing her swamp-inspired sound to fans across the nation. Marcia and the band recently took their good 'ole hometown southern jives all the way up to the folks in NYC for a one-night spot at The Highline Ballroom. Luckily for those who missed this opportunity to get a taste ...

66

Recording

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball Celebrates New CD with a Performance in Princeton, NJ

Pianist / Vocalist Marcia Ball Celebrates New CD with a Performance in Princeton, NJ

Source: All About Jazz

"Take a buttery voice laid over two-fisted barrelhouse piano playing and apply it to boogie, blues, rock and soul and it's a killer combination that leaves your toes tapping." - Associated Press

Pianist / vocalist / songwriter Marcia Ball will celebrate the release of her first-ever live CD, Live! Down the Road, with a performance in Princeton. Ball won two 2004 Blues Music Awards for “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year" for the Grammy-nominated CD, So Many Rivers, ...

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Performance / Tour

Alligator Records' Artists Marcia Ball, Dave Hole, and Guitar Shorty to Perform In and Around Philadelphia

Alligator Records' Artists Marcia Ball, Dave Hole, and Guitar Shorty to Perform In and Around Philadelphia

Source: All About Jazz

ALLIGATOR RECORDS ARTISTS MARCIA BALL, GUITAR SHORTY AND DAVE HOLE TO PERFORM IN / NEAR PHILADELPHIA!

Performance information is as follows:

At Maggie's Place 816 N. Easton Rd. Doylestown, PA www.maggiesplace611.com

Dave Hole Sunday, August 7th 6:00 p.m. $12 in advance/$15 @ door

Guitar Shorty Friday, August 26th 8:30 p.m. $17 in advance/$20 @ door

Philadelphia Folk Festival Old Pool Farm Philadelphia, PA www.folkfest.org ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Alligator Records: 50...

Alligator Records
2022

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The Tattooed Lady &...

Alligator Records
2014

buy

Peace, Love & BBQ

Alligator Records
2008

buy

Live! Down the Road

Alligator Records
2005

buy

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