Every year, I’ve done a show featuring exclusively female artists and every time I do it, I ask myself why I don’t it more often. This show is awesome so get it started and then read on.
It’s not that I don’t play these artists at other times. In fact, I play them frequently but some times its nice just to give these wonderful musicians the full spotlight — without the guys in the way. And each year, as I learn more about the New Orleans music scene, the show gets better.
This show starts in the delightful embrace of Ingrid Lucia’s “My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms.” And the show just keeps getting better. Lynn Drury, who is featured later in the show, joins Margie Perez, Monica McIntyre, and Paula August Jepson in “Got to Tell Ya” from The Honeypots-– an album I found in my last foray through the Louisiana Music Factory. I follow that with songs by Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses and Marva Wright.
For this show, I emphasized all, or mostly all, women bands and bands fronted by women. Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue scores on both fronts. She has a talented team backing her up including a female bass player and drummer. In all, I spin 26 tracks by female artists from New Orleans, including Rosie Ledet, Gina Forsyth, Yvette Landry, Dana Abbott, Albanie Falletta, Helen Gillet, and, of course, Irma Thomas.
Also, the best-known (if not only) all female brass band from New Orleans, the Original Pinettes Brass Band crank out their own version of “Who You Gonna Call.”
Inspired by the release of the documentary, “How They Got Over,” about African-American gospel quartets and their role in rock n’ roll, I do a set of spirituals starting with the all-female gospel quartet, Southern Harps – – Zion Trinity and Mahalia Jackson fill out that uplifting set.
Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving show which is already in the can and ready to be posted early next week. Thanks for listening.
Sweeney's Gumbo YaYa 
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