Tuesday, February 13, 2018

PLAYLISTS: Mardi Gras - Iowa Style

Some people may find it strange for a website specializing in Iowa music to have a Mardi Gras post.

Well, there is a town named Iowa in Louisiana! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa,_Louisiana



And although we are much further up The Mississippi River than New Orleans, I appear not to be the only lover in Iowa of the sounds and music coming from The Mississippi Delta and the Lousiana swamps and bayous. A few other Iowans, and Omahans, have found that sound as captivating as myself.

So with these two playlists, we present some Mardi Gras music for you with an Iowa flavor.

The first playlist features shorter clips with one or two songs. I put it in order of popularity, but I think it works best on shuffle. It features tunes from Omaha's Polka Police, their cajun/Zydeco band, The Prairie Gators, and their accordion party band, The Mighty Nish Band, as well as Des Moines's own NOLA Jazz Band, The Pelicans when they were The Party Gras Band, and our brass band, Grand Avenue Ruckus, plus some Dixieland jazz performed by Iowa jazz musicians.

The second playlists features whole shows, mostly from the NOLA Jazz Band, but a couple from The Pelicans, again when they were The Party Gras Band, and Grand Ave Ruckus, as well as Iowa jazz musicians doing New Orleans music.