Monday, March 26, 2012
Listen: Dr. John Talks to WNYC's "Soundcheck" About New Album, "Locked Down," and Three-Week BAM Residency
Mac Rebennack, a.k.a Dr. John, whose new album, Locked Down, is due out next week, was the guest on today's episode of Soundcheck from New York public radio member station WNYC. Mac treats listeners to a live solo piano version of "Big Shot," a song off the new album that was named NPR Song of the Day last week, and talks with host John Schaefer about working with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced the album. Schaefer also plays a clip from the album track "Revolution," which you can hear in full here. You can listen to Dr. John on Soundcheck below.Mac also talks with Schaefer about a three-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), titled Dr. John: Insides Out, which gets under way this week with a tribute to Louis Armstrong at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Thursday through Saturday nights. The following weekend is the centerpiece of the residency, a three-night run of concerts in which Auerbach will join Dr. John and a handpicked band to premiere new music from Locked Down, April 5–7. Dr. John: Insides Out concludes April 12–15 with Funky But It’s Nu Awlins, a funk-infused night of New Orleans music, featuring key players from the Crescent City. For tickets, head to bam.org now.
Listen to Soundcheck here:
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Dr. John is best known for his hits “Right Place Wrong Time” and “Such a Night,” but it was his first single, “Iko Iko,” from the 1972 album “Dr. John’s Gumbo,” that introduced his New Orleans sound to the rest of the country. For most listeners, “Iko Iko” was a cover of the 1965 Dixie Cups hit. But the song’s ancestry goes back to 1952… and beyond. Rockaeology tells how the song has roots in the chants of Mardi Gras krewes. The lyrics of James “Sugar Boy” Crawford’s “Jock-A-Mo” unwittingly served as the inspiration for the Dixie Cups’ hit.
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