Newport Folk Presents: The Deslondes

The Deslondes are a New Orleans-based band whose raw, stripped-down sound brings to mind a country-meets-R&B hybrid rooted partly in the Texas singer-songwriter tradition, partly on the weathered floor of a Louisiana dance hall. The band released its debut album, The Deslondes, in 2015 on New West Records, which was praised by NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and the New York Times, among others.

But the band’s history starts well before that. This fall, The Deslondes will reissue their debut album’s predecessor, Holy Cross Blues, and will tour with original band member Matt Bell on lap steel and electric guitar. The Holy Cross Blues reissue will feature a new cover design, and will be available digitally and on CD via The Deslondes’s online shop, as well as on fall tour dates.

Holy Cross Blues reaches a bit further back into American roots history than The Deslondes’s modern country-soul sound. The album features call-and-response gospel-blues (“I Got Found”), classic cowboy songs (“Throw Another Cap on the Fire”) and ’60s doo-wop (“Depression Blues”).

The Deslondes are currently at work on their sophomore album, to be released by New West in 2017.