A Conscientious Depiction Of New Orleans: The Music And Mission Of HBO's Treme
By Ben Sandmel
Treme: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season 1 (Geffen/HBO)
American Legacies (The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band/McCoury Music)
Acadian All Star Special: The Pioneering Cajun Recordings of J.D. Miller (Bear Family)
The Essential Collection of Lawrence Walker (Swallow) Chinaberry Sidewalks (Random House)
With its bountiful cultural riches and exotic cityscape, New Orleans has long held an intense fascination for film and television directors. Their depictions date back, at least, to Elia Kaza's Panic in the Streets and A Streetcar Named Desire, in the early 1950s. Many ensuing productions have displayed an enthusiasm for New Orleans that seemingly extends to outright infatuation. Since love is often blind, it follows logically that many such movies and TV shows are romanticized, wildly exaggerated, and, ultimately, based on incorrect impressions formed in the heat of passion. Such projects tend to dwell on a trite stereotypical mélange of voodoo, jazz, Spanish moss, and mangled local accents. But the acclaimed new HBO dramatic series Treme—created by the respected television veterans David Simon and Eric Overmyer—deftly balances an unabashed love for New Orleans with rigorous standards of accuracy.
As a resident of New Orleans, this author often fields questions from out-of-towners to the effect of "is Treme for real?" The answer is yes—the show's scenes definitely can and do happen. It's important to add that they do not happen routinely to everyone, everyday; the mundane existence of many real-life New Orleanians does not match the fast pace and high drama often experienced by the program's fictional characters. But Treme does not presume to present New Orleans in its definitive entirety. It focuses instead on several overlapping segments of the city's populace and their varied cultures, linked together by a complex web of sub-plots. One can quibble on occasion with a few minor points, but this approach has succeeded thoroughly to create an insightful, articulate, fully-realized and accurate work. Treme overwhelmingly gets it right, in marked contrast to many other well-intentioned efforts that fall woefully short in this regard.
New Orleans music—and music-related traditions such as the Mardi Gras Indians—figure prominently in Treme, which features a cross section of familiar and esoteric sounds alike. Several of the principle characters are musicians, and many prominent real-life musicians appear in the show, portraying themselves rather than acting. Several among the latter, including the talented singer John Boutte, and singing trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, have enjoyed significant and well-deserved career boosts from Treme's national television exposure. The compilation CD Treme: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season 1 (Geffen/HBO), reflects the eclectic expertise devoted to this sonic aspect of the show. In addition to John Boutte's catchy "Treme Song," now a local hit, the album includes such contemporary classics as the ReBirth Brass Band's "Feel Like Funking It Up," several renditions of the Mardi Gras Indian chant/song "Indian Red"; "My Darling New Orleans"—the definitive theme of the city's '70s cultural renaissance—by Lil' Queenie and the Percolators; a remake of Jessie Hill's "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" by his grandson, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrew; the jazz-funeral standard "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"; a remake of "Time is on My Side" sung by Irma Thomas, whose original rendition from 1964 was covered by the Rolling Stones, thus knocking Thomas' version out of the marketplace; and a remake of the R&B shouter Smiley Lewis' "Shame, Shame, Shame" by actor Steve Zahn, who plays a character based on the real-life musician Davis Rogan (Lewis's original version was featured in a steamy scene in the Elia Kazan film Baby Doll). In addition to such familiar material, Treme also explores multicultural musical expressions from New Orleans that may surprise out-of-town viewers, such as the joyous synthesis of Italian and African-American tradition achieved by Louis Prima. In addition, Treme has resurrected many great, obscure old songs—from early jazz, R&B, and other genres—for use in the program's soundtrack.
A similarly unexpected multicultural blend is also explored on American Legacies by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band (McCoury Music). Preservation Hall is a strong advocate for traditional New Orleans jazz, in terms of the live performances presented at its venue and the far-flung touring of its house band. In recent years this group has collaborated with many stylistically diverse musicians. The decision to record with the great bluegrass guitarist and singer Del McCoury continues in this artistically successful direction. But traditional jazz and bluegrass really are not such disparate genres, since many old songs are common to both repertoires. So is an aesthetic that features every instrument in a solo role at some point. On American Legacies, the collaboration leans more towards jazz than bluegrass, rather than evenly dividing the two, and McCoury steps into trad-jazz territory with his usual aplomb. The result is a relaxed, informal, and pleasing collection of standards that are performed with such cheery expertise that they sound effortless.
Looking westward beyond New Orleans, most reissues of Cajun music tend to focus on its earliest recordings. Less attention is paid to the years immediately following World War II, when significant changes occurred. One such development was the return of the accordion to prominence and popularity. Often regarded today as Cajun music's signature instrument, it had faded from favor during the 1930s, which came to be known, retrospectively, as the string-band era. An impressive three-CD set, with an accompanying 80-page hardback book, remedies this comparative gap in documentation with material from 1946 to 1959. Acadian All Star Special: The Pioneering Cajun Recordings of J.D. Miller (Bear Family) features such important mid-century artists as Happy Fats, Papa Cairo, Aldus Roger, and the exquisite crooner Jimmy C. Newman. The accordion is back on many of these records, sharing the aural spotlight with the fiddle, from the string-band era, and the recently incorporated electric steel guitar. This latter instrument reflects Cajun music's ongoing interaction with Anglo-American country music, which is further underscored by the presence here of country songs, here, sung in English, that have no connection with Cajun music. This mixture reflects the hybrid tastes of the time. The use of the steel guitar also points up the expansion of electronic application that had been introduced by the Hackberry Ramblers in the '30s. Significantly, however, bass and drums are not much in evidence on this album. This makes it a sonic snapshot of a brief historic period, because the number of full bands with rhythm sections expanded significant in the '60s. J.D. Miller, who produced this material, was equally renowned for his highly effective work with such African-American blues artists as Slim Harpo. On a related note, The Essential Collection of Lawrence Walker (Swallow) comes from the same era, focusing on an especially soulful Cajun accordionist and singer who enjoyed great renown from the '30s through the '60s.
Heading westward still, and into the realm of books, we encounter Rodney Crowell's compelling memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks (Random House). A Native of Houston, on the western frontier of Louisiana's Francophone country, Crowell started out his progressive country-music career in Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. This prestigious job was based in part on his skills as the writer of such modern classics (and local anthems) as "Leavin' Louisiana in The Broad Daylight." By the early '80s Crowell emerged as a major artist in his own right, and he still commands respect three decades later. Even so, Crowell has always remained rooted in traditional country and honky-tonk music.
Readers who seek details of Crowell's musical career and explanations of his songwriting will find, instead, that Chinaberry Sidewalks dwells on his relationship with his parents. Crowell grew up amid extreme poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence—the stereotypical stuff of many country lyrics—which explains in large part why his songs are so convincing. While his story is both graphic and unsettling, it provides great insight into the environment that inspires such gritty music. Happily it ends with redemption and all old conflicts settled. The book's power lies in the fact that Crowell writes long-form non-fiction with the same skill and articulation that he brings to succinct three-verse compositions.
