Get ready for some raw dirt, railroad pounding, swamp-fried, Louisiana-meets-the-Mekong Delta blues music. This ain’t no cowboy chording blues cheese. This is the REAL deal. Dege Legg (aka Brother Dege), the Cajun born and Louisiana raised leader of the band Santeria, is about to release his highly anticipated “slide/Dobro record” entitled Folk Songs Of The American Longhair, co-produced by 4x Grammy-winner Tony Daigle (Dr. John, Sonny Landreth, Gatemouth Brown, Bobby Charles, etc) and Santeria lead-guitarist Primo.
Legg composed ten original tunes in the slide-Delta tradition, painstakingly paying tribute to the old masters while tossing all purist, karaoke-like tendencies to the wind. Think Son House meets Leonard Cohen at a hoodoo séance in the swamps. Slide players from the U.S. to Europe are already covering the tunes – and the record isn’t even out yet – via a series of live Brother Dege youtube videos which have garnered over 150,000 plays with no promotional hype or jive.
Much like the field recordings of Alan Lomax, the record tunnels into the ancient mysteries of pre-war blues and the devil-obsessed masters. Recorded in sheds, old houses and open fields for maximum intensity. There’s minimal instrumentation on this thing. In a return to the unprocessed basics, almost all of the tracks feature only one vocal, one slide guitar and one foot stomping. That’s it. Listeners are in for a treat when they hear how the music sounds, writhing about in the echo chamber of reality when stripped of all the studio trickery of the past decade.
FOR MORE INFO ON BROTHER DEGE AND SANTERIA:
http://degelegg.com
http://myspace.com/degelegg
http://officialsanteria.com
FOR MEDIA REQUESTS:
Tony Bonyata
Pavement PR
p: 262.903.7775
e: bonyata@wi.rr.com
http://www.pavementpr.com
HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ARE ALREADY SAYING ABOUT BROTHER DEGE:
“… an updated perspective of the age-old Delta blues. Compared to the mammoth sound production of his Lafayette electric-rock groups Santeria and Black Bayou Construkt, here Dege works in an austere one-man band setting reminiscent of his inspirations. After that, it’s his own game: one slide-stinging dobro and a helluva stomping foot.” – DAN WILLGING / OFFBEAT MAGAZINE
“Swampy, post-Americana blues…” – RIVERFRONT TIMES / ST. LOUIS
“…offbeat, moaning swamp-guitar gems” – PHILLY.COM
“Great stuff indeed!” – RAVEN’ N’ BLUES RADIO / LONDON
If you’re interested in the evolution of local music, Brother Dege’s show is not to be missed. – THE TIMES / LAFAYETTE, LA
“Really one of the most outstanding CDs I’ve heard this year so far. Great slide guitar, great vocals and production. Outstanding.” – DON CAMPAU / NO PIGEONHOLES RADIO
“Folk Songs Of The American Longhair is in the tradition of the slide guitar Delta blues tradition, but with Legg’s own twist.” – CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE / U.K.
“I don’t hear this type of music enough of these day. “ – WTUL RADIO / NEW ORLEANS
“… sounds both ancient and modern, like an indie-rock cover of something Alan Lomax may have recorded a hundred years ago.” – THE MIDNIGHT CAFE
“…harrowing, stripped-down Delta-blues which was recorded in sheds, old houses and open fields for maximum intensity. There’s minimal instrumentation on Folk Songs Of The American Longhair. In fact it is a return to the unprocessed basics, almost all of the tracks feature only one vocal, one slide guitar and one foot stomping. Hard.
If you like Seasick Steve, then this is voodoo drenched genuine article. Think William Elliott Whitmore meets Leonard Cohen at a seance in the swamps.” – MAD MACKERAL / U.K.
“The American Folk Songs Of Long Hair” is an album that continues to captivate with each listen. A must!” – ALT COUNTRY FORUM / NETHERLANDS
“Folk Songs of The American Longhair is a Delta Blues masterpiece and Brother Dege is, dare I say, the Robert Johnson of the 21st Century.” – ROOTSVILLE / BELGIUM
“Twangy guitar, a foot stomping rhythm and soulful vocals, Brother Dege is pure blues that doesn’t layer on anything unnecessary.” – PLUG-IN MUSIC
“Folk Songs of The American Longhair is an iconic, bare bones Delta blues record, just Dege and a Dobro, and the steel on every song echoes like falling tears in a mausoleum. It’s a chilling portrait of death and redemption, an ode to the long road, and each and every slide draws you down into the earth’s waiting dirt.” – BROKEN BEARD
“Dege Legg, from Louisiana, comes armed with a dobro and echoing voice. Ten masterful tunes spiced in Cajun delta blues and steeped in bubbling bayou mushroom tea. Recorded in a shed in Southern Louisiana these sonic vignettes are equal parts foreboding, mysterious, and inspiring. Tunes for the weary eyed freight train hopper or the soundtrack for a rustic Americana slideshow when salvation comes due. Up tempo Gulf coast pyschedelia that even at its bleakest will have your feet tapping. Enough good things can’t be said about this album.” – COSMATOMIC BLOG
“Brother Dege writes brilliant visual texts that are at the same time spiritual and macabre, but always with the soul of a Cajun bluesman.” – ROOTSTIME / BELGIUM