Marcia Ball Receives Grammy Award Nomination
MARCIA BALL RECEIVES GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION FOR 2008 RELEASE, PEACE, LOVE & BBQ
CATEGORY 67 -- Best Contemporary Blues Album
Marcia Ball – PEACE, LOVE & BBQ (Alligator Records)
The winners of the 51st Grammy Awards will be announced on February 8. The other nominees in the Contemporary Blues category are Solomon Burke, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, and Irma Thomas.
Over the course of her career, Ball’s infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won her a large and loyal fan base all over the world. Ball won two 2004 Blues Music Awards for “Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year” for her previous studio album, the Grammy-nominated, SO MANY RIVERS, as well as the award for “Contemporary Female Blues Artist Of The Year.” And in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Blues Music Awards honored Ball as the “Piano Player Of The Year.” She was also voted “Most Outstanding Musician” in the 2007 Living Blues Readers’ Poll.
Produced by Stephen Bruton, PEACE, LOVE & BBQ finds Marcia Ball at a creative peak. She wrote or co-wrote eight of the thirteen songs on the CD, ranging from intense soul ballads to can’t-sit-still party songs to straight-from-the-heart lyrical storytelling. With guests Dr. John, Wayne Toups, Tracy Nelson and Terrance Simien lending a hand, the music moves effortlessly through a range of emotions, so the listener may be dancing one minute and be deeply moved the next.
THE PRESS SPEAKS ABOUT MARCIA BALL:
More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Ball’s awesome mélange of keyboard styles sets the tone: Call it the zydeco boogie-woogie blues. Horns chug faster and faster, guitars drop by for a rock ‘n’ roll interlude.
--National Public Radio
Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time.
--New York Times
Ball, a rocking singer/pianist, plays honky-tonk struts, party funk and soulful ballads. Her boogie-woogie piano style sets crowds in motion. She is a sensational, saucy singer and superb pianist... where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet.
--USA Today
Peace, Love & BBQ is a welcome ray of sunshine. This is a potent batch of tunes, highlighted by Ball’s keyboard mastery. Smooth blues, sweet zydeco, soulful, fast and furious Texas boogie…she kills every time. Heartfelt.
--Billboard
Swamp pop, blues, zydeco, Cajun, boogie-woogie, funk all delivered with exceptional verve. …Angelic harmonies…bright, smoke-tinged voice… made-for-dancing… funky, horn-fueled, rollicking swamp pop…melds swing and jump blues with New Orleans boogaloo. Ball plays the keys like a piano professor. Recommended.
--Austin American Statesman
Lots of upbeat party tunes, a few peppy Cajun and zydeco inflected zingers, some ballads, and a couple of love songs all delivered with Ball’s husky, soulful voice and driven by her nimble bogie-woogie piano. Ball is a classy, demanding, and talented musician…energetic, terrific, gripping, riveting. Peace, Love & BBQ is a sermon well-worth hearing.
--allmusic.com
Swaggering New Orleans romp…Ball’s fingers are magic on the 88s and range through styles with ease.
--Austin Chronicle
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