Go here to view the videos:

CHOCOLATE CAKE

CHANGE MY WAYS

We’ll be posting these to our VIDEO page soon once VME releases the embed rights to the artists, but for now, you can just go to the above links and enjoy!

You can also listen to the audio from the entire in-studio performance & interview session at:

http://kdhx.org/music/live-performances/honey-island-swamp-band-9/8/11

Click HERE to visit the MunckMusic JazzFest Live website and pick up a copy of the new release!

** 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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