Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Dr. John and Friends - New Orleans Swamp, PBS Soundstage, Park West, Chicago, IL, 10-30-1974

Here's a special episode of "PBS Soundstage." It was one of very few that got a special name - "New Orleans Swamp" - because it was a collection of musical acts instead of just one. The main star here was Dr. John. But he was joined by other pivotal musical acts from New Orleans: Professor Longhair, Earl King, and the Meters. All of these were key to the New Orleans sound. Due to the passage of time, there's no doubt a collection of talent like this will never be seen on stage together.

I've already post music by Dr. John, and he's a famous figure anyway. But here are Wikipedia links to the others, in case you want to know more:

Professor Longhair - Wikipedia 

Earl King - Wikipedia 

The Meters - Wikipedia

Dr. John served as the emcee. First, Professor Longhair played a short set, then Earl King did, then the Meters did. Dr. John stayed on stage the entire time, usually playing keyboards. Then Dr. John did an extra long set. Everyone was on stage for the finale, "Big Chief," an Earl King song.

To be honest, many times with these PBS Soundstage shows, I'm not entirely sure where they took place. I try to find out, but when I can't find any definitive information, I assume it took place in Chicago. (As usual, I'm open to corrections.) In this case, I thought the odds were pretty good the show took place in New Orleans, since it was such a gathering of talent all from that city. But I actually found a social media thread on it by other people who had been wondering the same thing, and I was able to find some definitive information about the location and date.

The music here remains unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. If you want authentic New Orleans music, don't miss this! 

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 talk (Dr. John)
02 She Walks Right In - Shake, Rattle and Roll (Dr. John with Professor Longhair)
03 Tipitina (Dr. John with Professor Longhair)
04 Whole Lotta Lovin' (Dr. John with Professor Longhair)
05 Everyday I Have the Blues (Dr. John with Professor Longhair)
06 talk (Dr. John)
07 Mama and Papa (Dr. John with Earl King)
08 Those Lonely, Lonely Nights (Dr. John with Earl King)
09 talk (Dr. John)
10 Looka Py Py [Instrumental] (Dr. John with Meters)
11 Jungle Man (Dr. John with Meters)
12 Call a Doctor (Dr. John)
13 Qualified (Dr. John)
14 talk (Dr. John)
15 Quitters Never Win (Dr. John)
16 Such a Night (Dr. John)
17 Right Place, Wrong Time (Dr. John)
18 Big Chief (Dr. John & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ta2ATSJt

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/4LcpIp1VB0T15Ud/file

The cover photo of Dr. John is from this exact concert.

3 comments:

  1. The series began in 1972 as "Made in Chicago", and was taped and broadcast by WTTW. The performances were recorded at the WTTW television studio in Chicago, as well as large venues throughout the United States.

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    1. Yeah, I'm well aware of that. I've written about that in previous posts. The tricky thing is figuring out which shows were recorded in that WTTW studio and which ones were recorded elsewhere. I also have had a hard time finding the exact recording dates, and sometimes have had to use the broadcast dates. So I'm always open to better information.

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  2. Thanks so much for this one!

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