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About Roadside Attractions
Product Description One of the most popular and beloved American roots artists, with a 33-year string of critically acclaimed albums and national television and radio appearances, AAA and Americana radio chart positions and literally thousands of packed, raucous live performances. ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS follows 2008's PEACE, LOVE & BBQ (19,000 units scanned). Shows in support begin late March in the Northeast (incl New York, Boston, Philly, DC). She'll play her 32nd New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival main stage performance May 7th as well as numerous club and theater shows throughout the festival. Review Ball is a consummate pro--a killer pianist, a great singer and songwriter. Powerful. Righteous -- Billboard Based in Austin and steeped in New Orleans, Marcia Ball plumbs the richness of both musical meccas. From rootsy swamp pop and blues-drenched boogie woogie to languid ballads, Ball is equally comfortable with brash roadhouse romps and caressing love songs. -- USA Today Bayou boogie has a queen and her name is Marcia Ball. -- The New Orleans Times-Picayune More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Spicy, Texas-Louisiana blues, rock 'n' roll and boogie-woogie...awesome piano. -- National Public Radio Scrumptious, Southern-fried boogies, blues, and ballads with the infectious street beat of New Orleans at the core. -- The Austin Chronicle From the Artist According to Ball the new CD is the one she was born to make. " Roadside Attractions is my most personal album yet. It's full of short stories and tall tales. Not every word is true, but close enough. The songs reflect forty years of travel and a lifetime of experiences. Writing with Gary Nicholson, Dan Penn and Tom Hambridge was a thrill I've waited a long time for. So off we go, touring the cosmos, weaving and lurching, distracted by every concrete dinosaur and giant strawberry along the way. It's a great life set to music." About the Artist 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. She began taking piano lessons at age five. But it wasn't until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the power of soul music. One day in 1962, she sat amazed while Irma Thomas delivered the most 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 left for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, 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. 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, I knew I had found my direction." When the band broke up in 1974, Marcia launched her solo career, signing to Capitol Records releasing the country-rock album Circuit Queen in 1978. She then released six critically acclaimed titles on Rounder 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 with Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma Thomas. The CD Sing It! was released in 1998 and was nominated for a Grammy Award. 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. Ball's musical life with the Alligator family began in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent. The CD took home the 20
