Round 8 (2016)

Dance for Social Change

Dance for Social Change is an annual leadership summit that brings New Orleans youth artists together to catalyze action through the arts. 50 high school students from across the city will work with professional dancers, musicians, poets, and visual artists to create original, multidisciplinary performance pieces about pressing issues facing their communities. This year’s DSC theme is “Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.” The festival will take place from March 24-25, 2017 at a location to be announced by the DSC youth leadership council in January. For more info on Dancing Grounds and their efforts go to: https://www.facebook.com/dancingrounds/ or https://dancingrounds.org/.


Mighty Brother

Mighty Brother is setting out to produce their ambitious 5-song Music Video EP, likely to be titled THE VIBE. The adventure-folk band, known for their collaborative energy and knack for poetic storytelling, will work with local musicians and film crews to showcase a unique vision of New Orleans. La belle plume ne fait pas le bel oiseau – beauty is more than what is on the surface. The EP will explore subcultures, images, and stories that are distinctly New Orleans. The themes will range from artist identity and place, to beauty, innocence, and sacrifice. The final video EP will present a unique perspective of New Orleans’ cultural landscape. For more info go to: https://www.facebook.com/mightybrotherband or https://mightybrotherband.com/.


Funk Monkey

Funk Monkey will be recording and producing their first full length Album. After releasing their first EP in 2013, Funk Monkey has been hard at work writing new songs and developing new grooves. Featuring Bert Cotton & Greg Hicks from Bonerama, along with Dave Pomerleau, Eddie Christmas, Rik Fletcher, & Jason Mingledorff, Funk Monkey is a Band that’s untamed grooves showcase second-line funk, soul, & boogaloo that’ll move your feet and feed your soul.


Balfa Week

Louisiana Folk Roots’ annual Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week (Balfa Week). This is a culturally immersive event that presents, interprets, teaches and celebrates the Cajun and Creole cultural heritage that is central to the identity of south Louisiana. Balfa Week features intensive musical instrument instruction, participatory workshops, featured artist presentations, and other activities focusing on a wide range of traditional artistic expressions including music, dance, foodways, and language through song, all of which are taught by some of the leading artists and culture-bearers in our region of Louisiana. Balfa Week also features nightly open-to-the-public dances and music jam sessions. Balfa Week takes place at Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park in Lafayette, Louisiana, and attracts participants and visitors from around our region and state, as well as from across the United States and from several foreign countries. 2017 will mark the eighteenth presentation of Balfa Week. Checkout more on Balfa Week and help them further at: https://www.lafolkroots.org/events/balfa-week/ .


Upbeat Academy Foundation

Founded in 2013, UAF is a New Orleans 501(c)3 offering music production classes to at-risk youth in the greater New Orleans area. Upbeat’s curriculum focuses on hip hop and electronic music production. UAF holds classes four days per week after school in conjunction with the Orleans Parish school schedule, and we offer our services at no charge to our student-artists. Upbeat Academy’s student-artists will collaborate with locally and nationally recognizedproducers, musicians and emcees to create an original album to be released to the public. The album will be a source of pride and a culmination of the hard work that our student-artists have put in over the years, as well as a potential revenue stream to help the Academy continue our mission of providing a safe, positive space for young people in New Orleans to create the music of their generation. We are honored to be a recipient of this year’s Threadhead Cultural Foundation Grant and look forward to showcasing the talent of our young artists to New Orleans and the world. More info on UAF can be found at: https://upbeatacademy.org/ .


That New Orleans Touch (George Ingmire)

That New Orleans Touch is a two-hour radio documentary about the history of post WWII recordings in New Orleans. The Crescent City has been a mecca for a world of music lovers, especially when it comes to traditional jazz, funk, R&B, brass band music, as well as modern jazz. With that said, there has been little attention paid to the role of New Orleans recording studios and the producers, arrangers and session musicians. From Ray Charles to Labelle, Roy Brown to Irma Thomas, Emmylou Harris to Galactic, New Orleans has provided a distinctive sound on thousands of recordings, whether you’re talking about the rhythms, horn arrangements, backing vocals or personal touch of the producer/arranger.


Sweet Cecilia

Sweet Cecilia band is from the bayous of Acadiana. This all female trio performs original Louisiana roots, Americana, country, rock, and folk music with a Cajun flair. They have been performing together since childhood. Maegan Berard and, Laura Huval, are daughters of the late Grammy nominated musician Al Berard, Callie Guidry is a first cousin. Sweet Cecilia is in the beginning stages of working on an EP of all original songs. “We have been wanting to work with the incomparable recording engineer, Tony Daigle, at the infamous Dockside Studios, in Maurice, Louisiana. Our dream will finally be realized with the help of the Threadhead Cultural Foundation Grant Award.” For more information on Sweet Cecilia band you can go to https://www.sweetceciliagirls.com/ .


Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival

Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival 2017 is set for a four-day run January 12 through January 15, 2017. The festival will offer a mix of school clinics, workshops, panel discussions, interviews and evening performances at a variety of venues, including Snug Harbor, The Little Gem, Bullet’s Sports Bar and the Howlin’Wolf. The evening performances will feature an all-star array of New Orleans artists and special guests Maria Muldaur and legendary Haitian guitarist and educator Claude Carre’. The mission of the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival is to showcase and highlight the many contributions and accomplishments of NEA Jazz Master Danny Barker: musician, singer, songwriter, raconteur extraordinaire and author who played guitar and banjo with many top jazz artists over the course of his 70 year plus career and served as a mentor to numerous young New Orleans artists who have since come to prominence, including Wynton Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Leroy Jones, Gregg Stafford, Dr. Michael White and Lucien Barbarin. This year’s festival will also celebrate the timely publication (December 1, 2016) by the Historic New Orleans Collection of a beautiful new illustrated and expanded edition of Danny Barker’s acclaimed autobiography, A Life In Jazz, with a panel discussion of the new edition on January 15, 2017 at the Howlin’ Wolf and copies of the book available at all festival events. For more information please visit www.dannybarkerfestival.com .


Art Klub Nola (Artists Inc)

Art Klub’s Kids Music Jam will be happening in time for New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (JAZZ FEST). Witness the magic of New Orleans brass band traditions and Louisiana musical and cultural heritage in collaboration between Artist International Connection, 2nd Chance Brass Brand and the promising young talent of St. Roch neighborhood’s youth jazz musicians. Kids Music Jam is an ongoing educational event teaching, mentoring and inspiring kids through music classes and instruction on brass trombone, trumpet, sax, sousaphone and more! At Art Klub located in St. Roch we instill a love for playing and listening to music with community centered programming. There will be 2 5-week sessions with a tentative start date of Jan 23rd, 2017 with a concert on March 11th. Come out to enjoy and continue Louisiana music traditions in support of our kids and performers 2nd Chance Brass Brand for an amazing night of big brass music and New Orleans rising talent. To find out more info on Art Klub go to https://www.facebook.com/artklubnola/ .


Jamie Galloway Crawfish Boil (NOMC/NOMAF)

The Jamie Galloway Crawfish Boil fundraiser has become one of the most anticipated events following the Mardi Gras season. In the spirit of Jamie and with the love and energy of his bandmate Dave Jordan, this benefit brings the music and food community together celebrating the life of a beloved chef and musician while raising awareness for New Orleans Musicians Clinic & Artists Fund, funds raised at this event, will go to help musicians and New Orleans cultural bearers. The Maple Leaf Bar will host the 5th annual Boil in March 2017 (exact date TBD). The poor health indicators for the state of Louisiana as a whole are further compounded for musicians. If it were not for 17 years of dedication by the NOMC, which provides comprehensive and specialty medical services to more than 2,500 performing artists and culture bearers, our vibrant music culture would find itself in a tenuous predicament. In addition to the direct services we provide, NOMC serves thousands of local community members each year through health outreach events (cancer screenings, blood drives, immunization campaigns and health literacy events), wellness advocacy, Emergency Management, and social services. More info to be updated soon at https://neworleansmusiciansclinic.org/…/4th-annual-jamie-ga…/ .


Craigory Klein

Craig Klein will use the funds to help record his second solo album. It will be a follow up to his 2004 record New Orleans Trombonisms with the likely title of New Orleans Trombonisms II. The record will be a mixture of originals and some other songs that are near and dear to him and will include a cast of musicians to be determined. The plan is for a more traditional jazz record with some extra spice thrown in. From Craigory: “This Threadhead grant will get it started and I thank each and every Threadhead from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for the help in getting so many recordings out”. Keep up with Craig via his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tromboklein .


Friends of the Cabildo

Friends of the Cabildo will continue their Oral History Program with a project focusing on New Orleans drummers and the New Orleans drumming tradition. The FOC will work with audio engineer and musician Joe Stolarick to capture ten (6) field interviews with New Orleans drummers in their homes and other artist-specified locations. New Orleans Jazz Museum (NOJM) director Greg Lambousy will assist with the interviews. Field recordings will capture the voices of the artists and the sounds surrounding them, creating audio time capsules—intimate sonic collages of the artists, their homes, personal instruments, and the present-day New Orleans sounds surrounding them. Outside of the presence of a formal audience and free of typical time constraints, field recordings allow artists to speak more freely and to engage in lengthy musical demonstrations. Recording in the field also enables participation by musicians uninterested in performing live and/or less inclined to travel. Currently, Joe Lastie, Stanton Moore, Herlin Riley, Winston Shy, and Zigaboo Modeliste have agreed to participate in this project if funding becomes available. For more info on FOC you can go to their website at https://www.friendsofthecabildo.org/ .


Bicycle Jones & Stover

Bicycle Jones & Stover will release their CD project Song Shed (vol. 2). Released in May of 2016, Song Shed (vol. 1) is the debut collaborative recording between songwriters Brian “Bicycle” Jones and Dave Stover. Bicycle’s voice occupies the center of a sound that is fleshed out by an all acoustic ensemble which includes mandolin, dobro & fiddle. The cross-genre pollinating of Country, Cajun, Blues & Bluegrass creates a unique take on Southern Roots Music. Song Shed (vol. 2) takes up where (vol. 1) left off. Jones & Stover wrote the five songs that comprise (vol. 2) while preparing for their performance at the 2016 Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival. The subject matter drifts through different phases of a chaotic romantic relationship. There is: a mellow swamp blues with a surprisingly upbeat view of a new love, an apprehensive swing tune about “Pacin’ the Floor”, a western drifter about infidelity, a rowdy 2-step because “Mamas Know”, and a catchy waltz about being driven to commit a murder-suicide. Song Shed (vol. 2) will be available early 2017.


Fais Do Do ( Buddy Mann Memorial Grant)

THCF is proud to continue support for this new tradition that presents a range of Louisiana-based musical styles including Zydeco, Cajun, Country and French in a free, fun and family-friendly dance setting at the Maison club located at 508 Frenchman Street. The events take place on various Saturdays throughout the year. The event was begun by Lee Brundage, otherwise known as the ‘Mayor of Frenchman Street’, in the Spring of 2010 and continues presenting such local talent as Sunpie Barnes & the Louisiana Sunspots, Helen Gillet, T’Cannaille, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Review, Washboard Rodeo, CajunGrass, Joe Hall & the Louisiana Cane Cutters and many more. The Maison is a comfortable setting with 2 stages which contributes to a continuous 3 hour flow of music for 2 bands per event, spacious dance floor with food and drink and nearby parking available.