settling in

New Orleans music moves west
Austin is new home for many of city's finest

By Michael Corcoran

Thursday, September 8, 2005

A Neville brother, New Orleans musical royalty, rented an apartment in South Austin Tuesday. Modern swamp-rock kingpins the Iguanas are spread out over four houses in town. Basin Street Records President Mark Samuels, whose roster includes Kermit Ruffins, Henry Butler and other Big Easy jazz notables, has also moved operations to Austin after losing the entire contents of his home and office when the Crescent City flooded...

Their beloved city is gone, awaiting a rebuilding process that could take months and even years. So several New Orleans musicians are moving to the Texas city that, like their hometown, is known for an affinity for live music and instinctive playing.

"There are two great music cities in America," Iguanas guitarist Rod Hodges said. "And one of them is out of commission for God knows how long."

The initial clump of New Orleans relocatees includes Big Sam, the trombone player from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who has signed on as a member of local funk outfit Topaz. Members of Irma Thomas' group, who came to Austin for a gig two weeks ago, are still staying at an Austin hotel and contemplating finding more permanent quarters.

Then there's Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, who fled his bayfront home in Slidell, La., mere hours before it was swept away and was en route to Austin when he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized in Port Arthur.

Daughter Celeste Biles said the plan is to have Brown, who also has inoperable cancer, brought to Austin, where a hotel room and around-the-clock medical care await, when he is well enough to travel.

Percussionist Cyril Neville of New Orleans' first family of soul said the decision to move to Austin, where he and his family waited out two previous hurricanes, was an easy one.

"Some of my fondest memories of playing music are in Austin, going back to the Meters playing Soap Creek and then the Neville Brothers at Liberty Lunch," said the new South Austinite, who wasted no time feeling at home, jamming at Antone's on Monday night with Papa Mali and the house blues band. "Austin's the only city I know of where I could pick up the same vibe as New Orleans. You don't have to instruct the musicians here or tell them what key the song is in."

For the Iguanas, the priority in making what's long been their second home their first is enrolling their children in local schools. Hodges' youngest son had finished his first day of kindergarten when the hurricane hit.

"My other kid was in first grade for a week," Hodges said. "They were happy with school, and then the next thing you know, they're living in hotels, driving all over Texas. We want to immediately reinstate some sense of normalcy."

Continental Club owner Steve Wertheimer has done much of the groundwork for the band he calls "like brothers to me," including surveying schools, setting up housing and offering the band any night of the week for a regular gig. They'll be playing the club Monday.

Cyril Neville took out a sheet of paper during an interview and, as if he were giving an acceptance speech, read the names of Austin musicians and fans who had helped him and his extended family of nieces, nephews and second cousins in the past week.

"Austin's full of angels," he said. "Last night some people drove up in a truck and carried up furniture, beds, food, clothing for us. Before that, we didn't have nothing but two cats, one dog and a Richard Pryor boxed set."

Next came a couple of job offers, includinga Tuesday night residency at the Cedar Street Courtyard, which Neville said will serve as a weekly gathering of displaced New Orleans musicians.

"My wife is gonna cook red beans and rice, and we're gonna set it off, man," he said.

Next week, Neville will enroll his eldest son, Omari, 17, and brother Aaron Neville's 15-year-old grandson, Jaron, at Austin High.

"They've got a band called Young Originals that you've gotta check out," Cyril said.

His nephews, Ricky and Norman Caesar, living in the same South Austin apartment complex, hope to revive their Deff Generation group while living here, Neville said.

"I don't believe in accidents. We're here for a reason," he said. "The Great Spirit took the gumbo from New Orleans and poured it all over Texas."

Excited by the influx of top-flight musicianship is Threadgill's owner Eddie Wilson, whose restaurant on Barton Springs Road is hosting a hastily organized show Friday welcoming the Neville family to Austin. Cyril and wife Gaynielle will perform with Papa Mali and Norman Caesar.

On Tuesday, Caesar serenaded Threadgill's diners with an impromptu concert on the old piano from the Armadillo World Headquarters, first played by his idol Fats Domino.

"He was unbelievable, an amazing piano player," Wilson said of the young Caesar. "People were leaving their tables and standing around the piano, clapping."

Basin Street's Samuels said that audiences outside New Orleans will have a unique opportunity to hear musicians who normally stick close to home, where there are plenty of club gigs.

With their comfort zone ripped away, they've got to hit the road, where they can spread the glory of gritty, good Crescent City jazz and funk to all corners of the globe.

After the tragedy, New Orleans records have been played on the radio and TV like never before.

"The best way to help New Orleans musicians is to buy their CDs," Samuels said. "Go see them perform."

With many more Gulf Coast musicians expected to relocate here, Austin audiences will have plenty of opportunities in the coming months and years.

mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652