** Thursday July 21, 2011 **

It sometimes is possible to pinpoint the exact moment a band comes of age. Having defined their sound, its members articulate it with confidence. They are rewarded with the hoots and hands-in-the-air approval of an appreciative audience that, going forward, will seek them out, buy their CDs and confirm their place in the firmament.

The Honey Island Swamp Band experienced such a moment during the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

Chris Mulé, special guest Jake Eckert, Aaron Wilkinson and Sam Price - Honey Island Swamp Band at N.O. Jazz and Heritage Festival - 5/1/2011 (photo by NolaMar Images)

At the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage, the musicians hit all their marks: They plugged their most recent CD, “Good to You,” but not gratuitously; they beefed up their presentation with horns and a percussionist. For the finale…

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** Sunday June 26, 2011 **

Honey Island Swamp Band swung into the Westside on Saturday, another NOLA nugget appearing at the Mint.  This is a New Orleans band that reflects its Katrina Diaspora-Bay Area birth with chunky and soulful jams, tight arrangements and great material.  If you are expecting ballads, standards, and second lines, this ain’t that NOLA band.  Whether moving easily from moments Dead infused or Dr. John influenced, their self-described Bayou Americana sound never loses sight of its swampy swagger or solo driven joy.

Chris Mulé & A-Ron Wilkinson - The Mint, L.A. 6/25/11 photo by Jim Brock

The band has kicked ass at Jazzfest the past few years, so a chance to enjoy them here in the Southland was indeed a treat, and to my knowledge, The Mint gig is their first Los Angeles show.  At Fest performances and in the studio, HISB often fattens their arrangements with horns, and Saturday had that taste with Karl Denson sitting in for both sets contributing frequent solos and locking into some killer grooves with Trevor Brooks on keys and Chris Mule’s SG/Strat driven leads…

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** Wednesday July 6, 2011 **

Jackson Hole, Wyo. — “Putting a fire out” can mean a lot of things when coming from the mouth of a touring musician. Mandolinist-vocalist Aaron Wilkinson of Honey Island Swamp Band used the phrase when he dealt with a radiator issue on the band’s touring vehicle just before connecting with me for a brief phone chat.
“Its glamorous rock star stuff,” Wilkinson joked.

Chris Mulé & Aaron Wilkinson at "Music on Main" in City Park, Victor, Idaho - 7/6/11 (photo by Mundo)

The New Orleans-based quartet plays “Bayou Americana” tunes anchored by soaring guitar, sure-handed mandolin and four-part vocal harmony. The band is making its first road trip through Idaho this week, and its performance at Music On Main is one of only two shows it’s put on in the Rocky Mountain region. The first thing that caught my attention was…

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** Tuesday July 5, 2011 **

In 1978, a friend introduced me to a band named “Little Feat”. I don’t remember the exact cassette he popped into the tape player in my Subaru Coupe as we traveled from St. Paul to Ely, Minnesota. But we played it over and over during the six hour trip, and by the time I had reached the North Woods, I was completely hooked on what we decided was “Barnyard Funk”.

Garland Paul and Chris Mulé with special guest Ivan Neville on keys - Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland, OR - 7/4/11

Thirty-three years later, I’m watching Honey Island Swamp Band lay down the same difficult-to-describe but completely addicting funk that forces you to head-bob in a pseudo-reggae 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and… To an extent, they even look like what I remember…

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** Tuesday June 28, 2011 **

The hottest new band in New Orleans started in San Francisco.

Guitarist Chris Mulé and bassist Aaron Wilkinson were playing with guitarist Eric Lindell on tour in San Francisco when Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. Everything Wilkinson owned was stashed in his van and his roommate’s apartment back in Louisiana.

Honey Island Swamp Band - Garland Paul, A-Ron Wilkinson, Sam Price, Trevor Brooks, and Chris Mulé - photo by Zack Smith

“It was a trip being thousands of miles away, watching it on TV, not knowing what happened to any of your stuff,” he says. “After a couple of weeks, you just wrote it off.”

Stranded in San Francisco, unable to reach anybody back home, Mulé and Wilkinson gravitated toward spending their days at the Boom Boom Room on Fillmore Street, a San Francisco nightclub that many New Orleans musicians think of as their home away from home in this town…

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** Thursday May 6, 2011 **

New Orleans (CNN) — The population of New Orleans isn’t big enough that local bands can play to a new crowd every week, so when New Orleans musicians want to make money and new fans, they usually hit the road.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is an exception to that rule, with most local bands staying at home to take advantage of a crowd that — this time — comes to them.

Honey Island Swamp Band rocks to a capacity crowd at the 2011 JazzFest - 5/1/11 - photo by Mundo

For seven days over two weekends, Jazz Fest attracts more than 300,000 music fans to New Orleans. Spread out over a dozen stages, the fest hosts over 450 musical acts from New Orleans and around the world.

Such a large festival opens bands to a big audience, but it also means musicians have tough competition for fest-goers’ time

“At Jazz Fest, there are multiple bands playing at the same time,” said Aaron Wilkinson of Honey Island Swamp Band. “You can’t count on everyone seeing you at your Jazz Fest set, so…

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** Saturday April 30, 2011 **

Recently winning the Best Roots Rock Artist Award at the “Best of The Beat Awards” and embarking on their Summer tour (which included…the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama…) the Honey Island Swamp Band started the night off by cooking a delicious set of New Orleans peppered roots rock for the Vinyl Music Hall crowd.

Trevor Brooks, Garland Paul, Chris Mulé - Live at Vinyl Music Hall, Pensacola, FL - April 22, 2011

Led by Chris Mule’ (guitar/vocals), Aaron Wilkinson (mandolin, guitar, vocals), Sam Price (bass, vocals), and Garland Paul (drums, vocals) the group dealt a sound that immediately made the crowd go all-in for a fun night. Just as they reached

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** Wednesday April 27, 2011 **

Host Aura Fedora talks to Aaron Wilkinson of Honey Island Swamp Band about their influences, their audience, and why roots music never goes out of style…Interview recorded on April 20 live backstage at Wednesdays At the Square, a free concert series in New Orleans.

Honey Island Swamp Band at "Wednesdays At The Square" - New Orleans, LA - 4/20/11

by Keith Spera, Music writer, The Times-Picayune 

Friday July 10, 2009, 5:00 AM

In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mule found themselves stranded in San Francisco with the rest of soul-blues guitarist Eric Lindell’s band.

In need of additional work, they resolved to pool their respective songs and create a new band. At the Boom Boom Room, a home-away-from-home for Louisiana musicians, they encountered fellow New Orleanians Sam Price, a bassist, and Garland Paul, a drummer.

With that, the Honey Island Swamp Band was born.

The Honey Island Swamp Band includes, from left, Sam Price, Aaron Wilkinson, Chris Mule and Garland Paul. They celebrate a new CD at the Hi-Ho Lounge on July 10.

With Wilkinson on mandolin and Mule spiking his guitar with slide licks, they stand squarely at the intersection of roots rock and country. On Friday, July 10 at the Hi-Ho Lounge, the Honey Island Swamp Band celebrates the release of its second CD, “Wishing Well.” read more…

Honey Island Swamp Band

Wishing Well
Independent
By David Kunian

In the years since the Honey Island Swamp Band released its first record, it has crossed the country and been the secret force behind swamp soulster Eric Lindell. Now it has released its second record, Wishing Well, a record that shows off its roadhouse-right rock ’n’ roll. Wishing Well splits its songs between their two main writers and guitarists, Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mule. Both are good songwriters with tried, true, but not clichéd sentiments. Wilkinson pens a graceful turn of phrase telling the object of his desire that he’ll be at the “Dark End of the Bar” before a honky-tonk piano and easy slide guitar finish his thoughts. Wilkinson’s songs lean toward country rock in the vein of the Band, early Eagles, or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mule’s song have a more rhythm and blues edge and a cynical, kiss-off sentiments as in “I can’t live the way / you’re killing me.” The band even adds some acoustic touches with Mule’s acoustic guitar and Wilkinson’s mandolin on “Decent Company” before the horns punch up some brassy trombone. Special guests such as Sean C. on harmonica and tight horn arrangements courtesy of Jimmy Carpenter help fill out the solid rhythms of bassist Sam Price and drummer Garland Paul and give a full mid-’70s sound to this fine record.