Though the Baton Rouge blues scene may have lost a good deal of the mojo and magic that made it the unofficial blues capital of Louisiana some four decades ago—not to mention one of the busiest blues hubs in the entire United States—The New York Times reports in a new travel feature that the blues scene here hasn’t dried up entirely.
“For blues fans these days, Baton Rouge is an altogether much quieter affair,” reads the feature, which notes many of the city’s former blues venues faded away over the years as the likes of bluesman such as Slim Harpo, Raful Neal and Buddy Guy moved on to bigger cities. “Quieter perhaps, but not silent. For the curious traveler—and music fan—there are still places in the city that hark back to Baton Rouge’s blues heyday. With a mix of the old and the new, it’s surprising to discover that not only are the blues far from dead; in some places, the blues are quietly thriving.”
While the feature highlights several of the Baton Rouge area’s best known blues joints, including Teddie’s Juke Joint in Zachary and Phil Brady’s on Government Street, it also highlights the Blues Room that opened downtown in 2013 and Chelsea’s in the Perkins Road overpass area.
“It’s true that the days of Baton Rouge as a blues center are gone,” the features concludes. “Still, when you find yourself in one of the city’s smoky, dirty bars late at night, with a loud band loosely belting out an old Slim Harpo number, it’s hard not to feel a spark of what used to be. And, often, that’s more than enough.” Read the full story.
