Snooks Eaglin

Wanted to keep up the New Orleans theme in honor of Jazzfest. Here are a couple albums from another Crescent City legend - Snooks Eaglin:

"New Orleans Street Singer" (Smithsonian Folkways 1959)

"Soul's Edge" (Blacktop 1995)

Snooks was a blind guitar player and singer who had a reputation for being a bit wild. The two records above are good examples of what he sounded like early vs. late in his career. The Smithsonian Folkways album is just Snooks with an acoustic guitar singing his demons away. You can picture him on North Rampart street playing for change. The other record is with a full band - its lively and more of what Snooks came to be known for in the later years of his life. He just passed away last year and many parts of the 2009 JazzFest seemed like a tribute to this blues master.

Get a taste of Snooks through this non-video YouTube clip - the NOLA classic "St James Infirmary"...chilling