"Rollicking,
playful, good time blues and intimate, reflective balladry..her
songs ring with emotional depth." -
Rolling Stone
Singer/pianist Marcia Ball knows how to raise
roofs and
tear down walls with her infectious, intelligent and
deeply
emotional brand of southern boogie, rollicking, roadhouse
blues and heartfelt ballads. Over the course of her threedecade
career, Ball has earned a huge and intensely
loyal following all over the world. Her exquisite piano
playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans
and Gulf Coast R&B with Austin's deep songwriting
tradition into a sound No Depression described as "a
little rock, a lot of roll, a pinch of rhythm and a handful
of
blues."
Born in Orange, Texas, in 1949 to a family
whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in
the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across
the border from Texas. She began taking piano lessons
at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her
grandmother's collection. From her aunt,
Marcia heard more modern and popular music. But it wasn't
until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the blues as,
one day in 1962, she sat amazed
while Irma Thomas delivered the most soulful and spirited
performance the young teenager had ever seen. According
to Ball, "She just blew me
away; she caught me totally unaware. Once I started my
own band, the first stuff I was doing was Irma's." In
1966, she attended Louisiana State University,
where she played some of her very first gigs with a blues-based
rock band called Gum.
In 1970, Ball set out for San Francisco. Her car broke
down in Austin, Texas, and while waiting for repairs,
she fell in love with the city and decided to
stay. It wasn't long before she was performing in the
city's clubs with a progressive country band called Freda
And The Firedogs, while beginning to
hone her songwriting skills. It was around this time
that she delved deeply into the music of the great New
Orleans piano players, especially Professor
Longhair. "Once I found out
about Professor Longhair," recalls
Ball, "I knew I had found
my direction."
When the band broke up in 1974, Marcia launched her solo
career, signing to Capitol Records and debuting with
the country album Circuit Queen in
1978. She released six critically acclaimed albums on
the Rounder label during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990,
Ball - collaborating with Angela
Strehli and Lou Ann Barton - recorded the hugely successful Dreams
Come True on the Antone's
label. At the end of 1997, Marcia finished work on a
similar "three
divas of the blues" project
for Rounder, this time in the distinguished company of
Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma
Thomas.
The album, Sing It!,
was released in January, 1998 and was nominated for both
a Grammy and a Blues Music Award as Best
Contemporary Blues Album. She also received the 1998 Blues Music Award
for "Contemporary
Female Vocalist Of The Year" and for "Best
Blues Instrumentalist-Keyboards."
In
1999, Marcia and her band appeared in the nationally
televised Public Television special In Performance At
The White House along with B.B.
King and Della Reese. Her albums and performances received glowing
reviews in major music publications, and Marcia was featured
on leading television and
radio programs, including Austin City Limits and National
Public Radio's Fresh Air and Piano Jazz.
Since the release of her Alligator debut Presumed Innocent,
Ball has received more popular and critical acclaim than
ever before. Billboard called the
CD "A stellar collection." So Many Rivers,
her 2003 follow-up, continued the trend. Billboard again
fueled the excitement, saying, "Ball
is a consummate pro - a killer pianist, a great singer
and songwriter. Powerful. Righteous." Live!
Down The Road followed
in 2005 with equally impressive praise across
the board. The New Orleans Times Picayune said simply, "Bayou
boogie has a queen and her name is Marcia Ball."
Over
the last few years, Ball has been the subject of feature
stories in magazines across the country, including USA
Today, Keyboard, DownBeat, Billboard, U.S. News & World
Report and in newpapers from coast to coast. Ball performed
on National Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion,
World Cafe and Whad'Ya Know?, Public Radio International's
Studio 360, the nationally syndicated Mitch Albom Show,
and the PBS-televised version
of Mountain Stage.
Ball was featured on CNN in 2002,
and in February, 2003, she joined her friends The
Hackberry Ramblers on NBC television's
Today Show. She was featured on the covers of The
Austin Chronicle as well as Blues
Revue magazine and even appeared
in Piano Blues, the film
directed by Clint Eastwood included in Martin Scorsese's
The Blues series which aired on PBS television nationwide
in Fall, 2003. Since then,
appearances on Austin City Limits and the Late
Show With David Letterman with The New Orleans Social Club not
only reached millions of people, but
helped to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. She performs
on A Prairie Home Companion again in 2008.
Now, with Peace,
Love & BBQ and
a long list of high profile tour dates, Ball will bring
her blend of Texas roadhouse boogie and Louisiana swamp
blues to fans everywhere. Radio and critics continue
to sing her praises. No Depression says, "Ball
takes her Louisiana R&B and soul from a stomp to
the swamp and back. [She brings] dancehall power and
majesty and no small amount of sly humor. Her hard-rocking,
relentlessly rolling piano and hearton-
sleeve vocals don't take much of a breather. Relentless
tunefulness and finely-honed storytelling make for a
truly enjoyable ride." With her new CD
and her endless touring, Marcia Ball invites all her
fans to ride with her as she spreads peace and love -
and enjoys plenty of BBQ - all across the
world.
Talking about her
"A sensational,
saucy singer and superb pianist...
where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp
meet" USA Today
"An irresistible, celebratory
blend of rollicking, two-fisted
New Orleans piano, Louisiana Swamp rock and
smoldering Texas blues from a compelling storyteller." Boston Globe
"Raucous, Piano-based Dixie R&B…classic
Southern
songcraft and passion." Chicago Tribune
"Ball is the bayou queen of
the piano, steeped in blues
and honky-tonk. When revved... she's a rollicking
dynamo spewing heat-seeking triplets from the ivories
while her horn-driven band wails. She's also a subtle
songwriter and a formidable singer with a wisp of
huskiness edging her Cajun-Texan twang." Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Like most of the great blues
singers, Ball has a throaty, penetrating voice and a style
that manages to combine romance, sorrow and defiance.” People
