Big Easy Blues A Fable of the Jazz Age
Years and years ago, I saw a truly wonderful student-produced variety show at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. One act involved a group of kids in what I suppose you could describe as hillbilly garb playing rustic instruments like the washboard and the jug. They started slow, with just a bit of rhythm and a repeated note or two, but before long they were absolutely rockin’ the place.
I was inspired. I started imagining an American musical in which this scene might fit.
The result was Big Easy Blues, a sort of musical fairy tale set in Jazz-Age New Orleans and revolving around a young wannabe musician, Billy Mason, a speakeasy singer named Lainey O’Hare, and an old hoodoo lady called Madam Owltooth.
Still, it would have been just a few random scenes and songs had I not happened to bump into the guy who was my school’s choir teacher at the time. Wes Smith was interested in the project, so I sent him what I had.
Wes sent back some music, and suddenly those lyrics I’d penned had real life. It was more than enough to get me back to the project and…well, now it’s done. Well, not done done, but in an advanced draft form with all of the music written and orchestrations to boot.
Stay tuned here for more on this project!
