In response to the current oil spill controversy, the Gulf Aid concert was created as a fundraiser for oil relief and served as a platform for some of the local musicians’ opinions.

Notable  recent residents Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz, and Tim Robbins along with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Trombone Shorty performed their new take on the old song “It Ain’t My Fault.” (Video Here)

“It Ain’t My Fault,” is a classic New Orleans original recorded in 1964 by Wardell Quezergue, often called “The Creole Beethoven,” and Joseph “Smokey” Johnson.

courtesy of www.kalamu.com

“It Ain’t My Fault,” a regional hit, is well known as one of the great examples of these two local legends incorporating second line into popular music. “It Ain’t My Fault” is one of those great songs with a long New Orleans history.

In the New Orleans tradition of jazz, and improvisation of old standards, the song has since been recorded and re-recorded by acts such as The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Mitlon Batiste, Ambrosia Brass Band, Cole Prior Stevens, Zydeco All-Stars, and the local hip hop act Silkk The Shocker as a hip hop song.

As a growing fanatic for New Orleans music, it’s always  great to see nationally recognized musicians cover New Orleans classics that are too often marked as “regional.”

Always looking to keep the discussion of New Orleans music going

- David

david@rabbitholeconsulting.com