This is a new feature that I hope to post at least once a month, focusing on good grooves from the area where I’m living now, south of I-10, west of New Orleans, across the Atchafalaya Basin. “Swamp” is a modifier that has become attached to several genres of music from this area, for better or worse, starting with British journalists using the term, “Swamp Pop”, in the 1970’s. In general, Swamp Pop is the largely New Orleans r&b influenced, non-traditional popular music of Southwest Louisiana that arose in the mid to late 1950’s and still exists in the region. Subsequently, the term “Swamp Blues” has also been used to identify the blues based music of the region, even if it’s from the east, like Baton Rouge!

At HOTG, a Swamp Side is not necessarily Swamp Pop or Swamp Blues. It’s just something from around here that I want you to hear. Now that we’ve made that about as clear as swamp water. . .