Troubled Men Podcast

The guitarist and bandleader on all of Conan O’Brien’s TV shows has spent his career working with artists including Laura Nyro, John Sebastian, Al Kooper, Levon Helm, Dion, and Phoebe Snow. Currently with legendary blues scholars Canned Heat, he remains an in-demand session player, arranger, and music director for a wide array of blues, soul, pop, and roots music projects. Confessing a long standi...

The globetrotting steel drummer, vocalist, and songwriter learned to play the steel pans during his 3 years in the U.S. Navy Steel Band. His passionate approach led to work with Michael Ray’s Cosmic Krewe, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Charmaine Neville, Kermit Ruffins, and Jon Cleary. Relocating to Denmark, he’s toured extensively throughout Scandinavia, Western Europe, Ukraine, the Baltic, and Russia, wh...

The venerable jazz and pop singer, pianist, and songwriter began her career at 11 years old, playing trad jazz in Dunc’s Honky Tonks kids band. While a student at Loyola, she landed the Playboy Club gig as the singer in the Al Belletto band. An Epic Records deal brought her to L.A., where she recorded several solo albums and worked as a session vocalist on hits by top-selling acts of the day. Retu...

The artist’s scholarship to the Art Students League of NY led to befriending Salvador Dali, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Roberto Duran; working as a NY Times illustrator, the NY Yankees’ art director, and a Madison Square Garden ringside portrait artist; and touring as a photographer with Weather Report and Jaco Pastorius' Word of Mouth. He’s now completing a book of images and stories from his...

The owner and manager of the fabled Jimmy’s Music Club grew up in French Quarter bars owned by his former prizefighter father. As a delivery boy, Jimmy knew all the Quarter luminaries, from restaurant maitre’ds to the dancers at the strip clubs. His namesake nightclub served as ground zero for punk rock, R’n’B, and roots music acts. Tonight Jimmy joins the Troubled Men for a stroll through the tee...

The bassist and founding member of the legendary Red Rockers/Rat Finks, who recently reunited after 40 years to celebrate the reissue of their breakthrough LP “Condition Red,” has also managed the New York Dolls, Roky Erickson, Paul Westerberg/the Replacements, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones through his Ten Pin Management agency. A busy guy, Darren also operates the POP Emporium vintage store and...

The in-demand Happy Talk drummer, formerly with post-punk favorites Malevitus, has recently joined the cinematic Early Day Miners. Signed to a new record deal, the group is poised to hit the road like a pack of teenagers in support of their new release. Jeff has lived all over the country, so he has friends everywhere. Tonight he joins the Troubled Men, and it’s every man for himself. Topics inclu...

The stand-up comic, writer, director, and co-host of the Seen Partners podcast is well known on the local scene, headlining at the N.O. Comedy Festival, Hell Yes Fest, and the Comedy House. Following her escape from indentured servitude on a Mendocino weed farm, the former Circle Bar bartender stumbled into an improv show which ignited a passion that drives her still. Tonight JQ joins the Troubled...

The pianist, vocalist, and long-time owner of the Neutral Ground Coffee House is a veteran cabaret performer, holding court at some of the swankiest rooms in the city for decades. His musical satire and American Songbook shows featuring composers including Henry Mancini, Allan Sherman, and Anthony Newley/Leslie Briccuse always have crowds smiling and toes tapping. Tonight Phil joins the Troubled M...

With the documentary chronicling chess icon Jude Acers, “The Man in the Red Beret,” making the film festival circuit, filmmaker Derek Bridges and Chess Cave founder Baylee Badawy trace Jude’s epic life from orphan to world record holder and chess promo giant. His World Chess Table on Decatur St. is instantly recognizable to locals and tourists, and attracts celebrities like Jamie Foxx to challenge...

The Casa Borrega founder was among the first wave of spray can fine artists in his hometown of Mexico City following graduation from an elite teachers’ college. Making his way to New Orleans, he wowed Frenchmen St. crowds with his live painting exhibitions, making contacts that landed him shows at the CAC and the Smithsonian Museum in DC, among others. A true renaissance man, Hugo started the rest...

The iconic tuba and bass player with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and creative director of the Hall has led a revitalization of the legendary institution cofounded by his parents in 1961. Growing up in an apartment above the business, he was surrounded by a who’s who of trad jazz giants from an early age, and ran loose on the streets of the French Quarter in all its decadent glory. Tonight Ben...

When a guest goes missing on the streets of New Orleans, René and Manny suspend judgement and forge ahead. Never at a loss for words, the Troubled Men have no problem filling the void. Is it an oversight, a happy accident, or something more sinister? Only time will tell. Topics include a change of season, a new record, a tragic birthday, airlines, a medical procedure, Dave Clements, a new police c...

The beloved washboard master and singer with the Tin Men, the Palmetto Bug Stompers, Washboard Rodeo, and his own blues trio was also a cofounder and namesake of the legendary Chaz Fest, which ran for 11 years as the bohemian 9th Ward alternative to Jazz Fest. With a kit that adds woodblock, coffee cans, and a front desk bell to the traditional washboard, he shines in any musical setting, and alwa...

The guitarist, composer, and record producer with Tav Falco’s Panther Burns caught the rock’n’roll bug during the rockabilly revival of his youth in Sicily, where he devoured the records of Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, and the Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer. His passion for music brought him to Rome and ultimately to Memphis. Mario grew up in the shadow of Mount Etna, an active volcano, so h...

The Black Top Records co-founding president, record producer, and A&R director was personal manager for the legendary Gatemouth Brown as well as an assistant district attorney for Orleans Parish. Between releasing over 100 albums of new blues, soul, and r&b, traveling the world with bands, and practicing law, he’s seen enough to fill several lifetimes. Tonight Hammond joins René Coman and...

The in-demand tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger with jazz/funk wunderkinder Naughty Professor played his way into the group as a freshman at Loyola. Developing a national following, the band became a hard-touring powerhouse playing over 100 dates a year and releasing a string of LPs and singles featuring collaborators like Ivan Neville, Chali 2na, David Shaw (Revivalists), and Eric Benny B...

As a drummer (DiNOLA, Pink Slip), artist manager (dB’s, Gun Club, Richard Hell, Peter Holsapple), tour manager, Monkey Hill Records label head (Cowboy Mouth, the Continental Drifters, the Bluerunners), studio owner (Jimmy Ford Clinic), and club owner (Ford’s Place), he knows every aspect of the music biz from the inside out. Jimmy escaped service in Vietnam to become a soldier for rock’n’roll. Ton...

The illustrious former New Orleans Saints VP, City Council President, Jewish Federation of N.O. CEO, and basketball executive has held a stunning series of positions in the forefront of sports, politics, and community service. He’s witnessed the city’s many ups and downs, and his love for his adopted hometown has never wavered, even as he went elbow-deep in the city’s post-Katrina rebirth. Arnie h...

The musician, composer, and instigator was instrumental in the formation of bands such as Sex Dog, the RockAByes, the Blue Vipers, Waka Waka, Stanley and the Undesirables, and his own group, Blood & Grits. A pivotal figure in New Orleans underground music, he also played on Richard Hell's "R.I.P." and toured with Hell after that release. Having grown up in the Carrollton neighborhood, Nicky wi...

The ace drummer/percussionist has worked with artists including Dr. John, Irma Thomas, the Radiators, and Michael Ray’s Cosmic Krewe. Studying under Cuban master percussionists Hector Gallardo and Regino Jimenez, he has spent years exploring a wide range of Afro-Cuban and Caribbean drumming. Michael once traveled to Havana for an initiation into bata drumming which included a ritual hand washing....

The bassist and bandleader, formerly with Michael Hurtt and his Haunted Hearts, Johnny J and the Hitmen, and Clockwork Elvis, has been living in Stockholm, Sweden for the last few years. While leading his own Du Mondes band and doing stained glass restoration keeps him busy, he still gets homesick for New Orleans. Tonight John checks in from his Safehouse for a booster shot from the Troubled Men....

The charismatic guitar player, singer, and former Mermaid Lounge co-owner has lived on the Frenchmen St. crossroads overlooking Cafe Brasil/Favela Chic for more than two decades, and witnessed the street’s evolution from a sleepy locals-only club scene to a major live music corridor. Having played there with Tribe Nunzio, Banda Logun, Second Lion, Ritmo Calypso, and Alabama Slim, he knows the area...

The singer, guitar player, and songwriter grew up touring with her blues harmonica legend father, Charlie Musselwhite, at clubs and festivals around the world. Though raised in the San Francisco Bay Area blues hotbed, she didn’t see a place for herself in the music until she got turned on to the Delta sound. Now in New Orleans, she’s a woman on a mission, playing and recording with guitar virtuoso...

The Grammy-winning Cajun singer and accordion star has carried bayou culture from Crowley, La., to the four corners of the globe. We catch up with him in Hawaii during the star-studded 10th annual Big Island Jazz and Blues Festival to survey the highs and lows of his storied career. Harmonica ace Jason Ricci and singer Kaitlin Dibble join Rene Coman and his Iguanas bandmate Joe Cabral on the veran...