Thank you everybody for that lovely welcome and introduction there. We are Sally Baby Silver Dollars.
I think this is the first time that I am performing on a stage in Indiana, but I have traveled through.
I've probably played at some gas stations and maybe Main Streets when I was busking many moons ago.
But I did come to Bloomington, Indiana once before I made it to New Orleans almost 20 years ago.
So I had a traveling partner that was from Indiana, a town called Hope, Indiana. And he brought me to
Bloomington on our way out to California. And I had a good time. I don't remember it much. It was like
2007. It was a long time ago for me. But I had a nice time, and I'm happy we're back. And at that time
in my life,
I didn't know that I would end up in New Orleans. I didn't know where I was going. But that's the funny
thing about life. You're just along for the ride, and you end up where you need to be. So I thought
it would be appropriate to start this set off with a song that I wrote when I first planted my feet
down by the banks of the muddy Mississippi, like I said, almost 20 years ago. So this one is called
Decatur Street. Decatur.
Thanks to the murky Mississippi. With all them pebbles they got rolling downstream. Well, I was fooling
with a bottle of Colorado Sea.
And I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for that black and white checkered taxi. Mm-mm. I went to carry
me home to the third floor of the rice factory.
and waves all resonating through my icicle. It's mixed together like jambalaya. And it's simmered down
in a gumbo room. I could still hear my baby playing banjo down on the corner of Decatur Street.
Oh, well, I was laying on that roof I could hear
They are dangling like a goose near from the arms of a lion.
from 1993 I got the mangoes and everywhere there's a sparkling spectrum of sound waves resonating through my eyes
I still hear my baby playing banjo down on the corner of Decay Street every night she sings.
Scripts in on a soggy piece of paper.
home.
It's indeed the story of how I washed up on the banks of the Mississippi River some time ago. And I
feel like even these days when I take me a little walk along the river, I feel like I could feel the
same little breeze that brought me in. I feel like the breeze, the wind reminds me of all the things
that it's taken away. It brings it right back in the form of all too familiar memories. So that one
is about a street
which I have spent a lot of time. We were laughing backstage. We're calling it Decatur Street because
if you've been to New Orleans, you know how bad the potholes are. But they just fixed the street up.
They just opened it back. So we've been traveling a lot this summer. And I was surprised that they got
it all done. It's all fresh for us. So no Decraters on Decatur if you come visit us. But our next election
is one I wrote called The Fool.
And I wrote it for one of my favorite archetypes, if you will. And I would consider myself a fool because
I've climbed my way through life and I've walked backwards the whole time. So this one is for the contrarians
and the risk takers and the leapers into the unknown and those that are just daring enough to challenge
the status quo in whatever way they see fit.
I think I'm all right.
fire from an old crone's tongue. Would your bones turn to stones? And if the heart
makes a fool to try, a fool to try. Every fool will try, a fool must try. Every fool will try, every
fool must try. How does this one fall?
I hear the woman on that trumpet, yeah.
upon a branch, he whispers softly, take another chance, oh another glance. Our star is shining in the
night, the crown is ever sister sending out their light, oh cry the poor pleiades plight, and if the heart
It takes a fool to try. A fool to try. Every fool will try. A fool must try. Every fool will try. Every
fool must try.
Yes, indeed, we'll leave it up for the cars through the side, one for the fools. All right. Triumph
and tribulations of the fool. But as you know, the journey in life is sometimes
Not an easy one. The storm is seas that we have to first pass through in order to try to find our level
ground somehow. So this next one is about weathering a storm. And I know many of us have weathered many
a storm in our time, but this one is a special storm because when I introduce this song, I always say this is
This song is my attempt at a sea shanty, but it's about a shipwreck, but the shipwreck called my life,
but about life's opportunity to take everything away but give you another chance and give you open the
door you didn't expect. So this one is called The Apple in the Tree.
down a hill and into the sea, into the sea. Upon salty shores, I was washed into the sand. Gentle ocean
waves, they scooped me up like a giant hand, scooped me up like a giant hand. Carried out with the tides.
All these bubbles flow to the surface of a foamy brine.
And the gold, so they laugh And the gold, so they cry For the starfish caught in your net The flounder
tugging on your line
sing songs of lonely vessels passing by, through thick blankets of mist and fog to meet their archied
demise, to meet their archied demise. Chanted by the sounds echoing off the towering cliffs, the rocks
like slew the star by like the scales from a swordfish, like the scales from a swordfish, and the water
splashed upon the deck. It quickly filled the hole
in every compartment. And the sailors said their goodbyes as they reflected on the sweetest memories
of their entire lives. And suddenly, with a bead of barnacles, Neptune waved his golden
sat in starry sky to spare that
into the sea, into the sea. They say them apples don't fall too far from the tree. This one hold down
a hill and into the sea, into the sea, into the sea, into the sea. Thanks y'all.
Well, we're going to play you a deep cut of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues. And this is one that is penned
by a lesser known New Orleans Rhythm and Blues artist by the name of Ned Towns. And he recorded this
song in the early 60s for Atlantic Records. And it's one called, How Do You Babysit a Man?
Still trying to figure it out. One, two, three, four, five, six. Where I saw you, I saw you last night.
You had some fella by your hand.
You were babysitting babies, but tell me how. Oh, tell me how. How can you babysit a man? Oh, oh, oh,
oh. Well, I knocked. I knocked on your door.
But I never heard no babies cry Instead I hear footsteps running Like there's a house on fire Oh can
you tell me
Y'all by Mr. Ned Towns. If anybody figures out how to babysit a man, please let me know. It's been causing
me trouble my whole life. But when I met Mr. Ned, he was singing his song on karaoke on the corner of
Frenchman Street where a lot of the music clubs are.
He was just kind of singing over the song, like off of YouTube or something, or like whatever little
track he had on a CD. And I was like, I gotta learn that song. So you never know who you meet on the
street, especially in a place like New Orleans, because they were probably a famous musician that the
industry didn't treat good, and they're just hanging out, enjoying their life now. So it's been the
story of many musicians that I met that I really admire. I'm like, what? So yes, how do you babysit?
There's some other good ones if you look online, too.
But we're going to do another deep cut for you aficionados of New Orleans traditional jazz. You may
or may not be familiar with this next one, but it's by one of the greatest New Orleans drummers, the
great Paul Barbarin. And it's called Big Bad Bullying.
That big bad bully done stole my love from me. That big bad bully done stole my love from me. Boy, that's
why I cried. Every night that's why I sigh. That big bad bully done stole my love from me. But that
big bad bully tried to run me out of town. That big bad bully tried to run me out of town.
That's why I roam. I was left here all alone. The big bad bully done broke my happy home. And the big
bad bully done drank my gallow wine. The big bad bully done drank my gallow wine. My cup run dry, and
I am feeling so fine.
That big bad bully tried to run me out of town. That's why I run. I was left here all alone. That big
bad bully tried to run me out of town.
Big, big bully done broke up my happy home. Big, big bully done broke up my happy home. I lost my wife
just to save my life. That big, big bully tried to break up my happy home. And that big, big bully done
drink my gallow wine. That big, big bully done drink my gallow wine.
My cup runs dry and I ain't feelin' so fine. That big bad booty tried to drink my gallow wine. Oh, that
big bad booty done stole my love from me. That big bad booty done stole my love from me.
Hey, a big bad bully done tried and tried, but somehow it prevails. One by the great drummer, the great
Paul Barberin. Yes, indeed, the big bad bully. Speaking of big bad bully, we got one called The Taxman.
This one was written by my friends that
Ran away from home at 16 to come join our little traveling band of brigands. And the way I came up in
music was through the streets, through busking and making my little change and figuring out everything
along the way. So of course, as you move along, you start to pick up a little bit of this and a little
bit of that.
This is one of the tunes that I've carried. A lot of us have carried each other's music, so it's a nice
thing. So here we go. Maestro.
was a girl but now I'm a little creature left in this big big world follow my legs well over the sea
till I swim my way back to Galilee
And this is what she sing.
Indeed one for the tax man, the keeper of the coin. Tell him Sally Baby's coming for them silver dollars.
He's gonna give it back. How was that? All right, shall we do a souvenir or one that I said? All right,
y'all. But we're running down to the end of our course here. We got a special one for you.
This one is by the great Smiley Lewis. This one was recorded over at Cosmos over on Rampart Street in
the French quarters in New Orleans with so many of the early rock and roll and rhythm and blues recordings
were laid down to wax in the 50s into the early 60s. And this is one we just play oh so sweet because
I think it just resonates with all of us. Because if you go to New Orleans, you're going to have at
least one night of sin. And you know.
I feel like sometimes you can make a bad mistake. I feel like I went through a town once called Truth
or Consequence, New Mexico. That's kind of deep because sometimes that's the way the silver dollar falls.
It's either truth or consequence. So here we go, One Night of Sin. One night of sin.
It's what I'm paying for, dear Things that I did and I saw Make the world stand still
me feel so ashamed. I've lost my sweet helping hand. I got myself to blame.
Sally, baby, never knew no wrong, no.
And I saw it made the world stand still.
That one night of sin, you only got yourself to blame. Thank y'all so much. We got Steve Detroit on
the keys over here. Zach Valentine on the bass. Nathan Wolman on the trumpet. I'm Sally Baby with Sally
Baby Silver Dollars coming to you from New Orleans. Is that it?
OK, we got one more. I was making sure. All right. Let's end with a nice little blues. How about the
blues of my favorite New Orleans singer that nobody has ever heard of. Born 1895, the great Lizzy Landrieu,
or as history will remember her, Lizzy Miles. And this is Lizzy's blues about some daddy issues. We
start us off, Steve.
I tell y'all I'm in danger Everywhere I go Listen here I never killed and I never stole But my conscience
got me in this hole I got a daddy right here in New Orleans
with a little loving man. And I don't know which one Sally baby likes best. I guess I like them both,
both the same. Say I got two fellas, gotta keep them apart. One is my living and the other one's my
heart. I got a daddy right here
Because...
They ain't shifting gears. I got a dad.
Thank y'all so much. We appreciate y'all. Stick around. There's a really incredible band coming up next,
but you can see us tomorrow. Our saxophone player, unfortunately, got all tied up with all the flights
and all this stuff, and we'll be here tomorrow. So we'll see you tomorrow. Thank y'all so much.