The Wild Magnolias
Encyclopedia
History
A group calling itself the Wild Magnolias, participating in the local "Indian masking" traditions and performing New Orleans Mardi GrasMardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
music, extends at least back into the 1950s. The group's lead member was called the Big Chief, and at least three Big Chiefs are known to have headed the band for short stints prior to 1964: Leon, Flap, and Joe Lee Davis. In 1964, Bo Dollis became Big Chief of the group, having previously participated in other Mardi Gras tribes such as the White Eagles and the Golden Arrows.
In 1970, the group cut a 45rpm single for Crescent City Records
Crescent City Records
Crescent City Records was a New Orleans, Louisiana based record label of the mid-20th century that issued Dixieland jazz recordings.The label released the first single of the band The Wild Magnolias in 1970....
, entitled "Handa Wanda". In addition to their usual ensemble of vocalist and a battery of percussion instruments (snare
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
s, tom tom
Tom tom
Tom tom and similar names may refer to:In music:* Tom Tom , 2010 alternative rock song* Tom-tom drum, a cylindrical drum with no snare* Tom Tom Club, a New Wave band** Tom Tom Club, an album by Tom Tom Club...
s, cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, beer bottles, cans, and so forth), the group culled together a number of local musicians, including pianist Willie Tee
Willie Tee
Willie Tee was an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, producer and notable early architect of New Orleans funk and soul, who helped shape the sound of New Orleans for more than four decades.-Biography:...
and guitarist Snooks Eaglin
Snooks Eaglin
Snooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. , was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years....
, as their backing band, called the New Orleans Project. The single received little airplay on radio but was successful in jukebox
Jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
es and through local word-of-mouth. On the strength of the single, the group signed with Barclay Records
Barclay Records
Barclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
, a French label, and secured distribution of their albums in America with Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
. Two critically acclaimed full-length albums followed, in 1974 and 1975, and a single, "Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke it Right)", cracked the Billboard Black Singles chart, peaking at #74 in 1974. At the height of the group's popularity, they booked dates at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and the Capital Centre
Capital Centre
The Capital Centre was an indoor arena located in Landover, Maryland, unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland; a suburb of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1973, the arena sat 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey....
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Polydor elected not to release the second album stateside, which would not see release in America until 1993. The group returned to New Orleans and local festivals. In the late 1980s, Allison Miner
Allison Miner
Elizabeth Allison Miner was a music promoter and manager who was instrumental in the early production of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the later career of pianist Professor Longhair.- Biography :Allison Miner was born Elizabeth Allison Crowther in Baltimore,...
expressed interest in restarting the band's career, and booked them on new tours along with signing them to Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
, who released an album of theirs, I'm Back...at Carnival Time (featuring the ReBirth Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé...
) in 1990. In 1992, the Magnolias toured Europe as part of Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...
's "New Orleans Revue" (along with Dr John, Johnny Adams, and Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard is a Cajun singer/songwriter and poet. His music is an innovative combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.-Biography:...
). They can be heard on DeVille's album Big Easy Fantasy
Big Easy Fantasy
Big Easy Fantasy is an album by Willy DeVille and the Mink DeVille Band. It was released in Europe on the French New Rose label in 1995. The album is a mixture of studio tracks and concert recordings made in New York and Paris. The "big easy" of the album's title refers to New Orleans...
. They recorded an album for an Australian label in 1996, and in 1999 signed with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
subsidiary Metro Blue to release Life is a Carnival. With a permanent backing band, the group began embarking on worldwide tours.
In 2001
2001 in music
See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....
, Boudreaux left the group as a result of disputes with the group's manager over guarantee payments.
In 2007, the group's two 1970s albums were re-released as a two-disc set with bonus materials on Sunny Side Records.
Members
Current members- Theodore "Bo" Dollis ("Big Chief") - vocals
- Billy Iuso - guitar
- Norwood Johnson - percussion
- Gerard "Little Bo" Dollis - vocals
- Queen Rita - vocals
Former members
- Monk BoudreauxMonk boudreauxBig Chief Monk Boudreaux is the Big Chief of the Mardi Gras Indian tribe, the Golden Eagles. He is widely known for his long time collaboration with Big Chief Bo Dollis in The Wild Magnolias.-History:In the late 1960s, Boudreaux joined the Wild Magnolias, the Mardi Gras Indian group led by his Big...
- vocals - June YamagishiJune YamagishiJune Yamagishi is a Japanese guitarist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the guitarist for bands Papa Grows Funk and the Wild Magnolias.-History:...
- guitar - Willie TeeWillie TeeWillie Tee was an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, producer and notable early architect of New Orleans funk and soul, who helped shape the sound of New Orleans for more than four decades.-Biography:...
- piano - Snooks EaglinSnooks EaglinSnooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. , was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years....
- guitar - Earl Turbinton, Jr. - soprano sax, alto sax, bass clarinet
- Julius Farmer - electric bass
- June Johnson, Jr.
- Crip Adams
- Tobias Johnson
- Bubba Scott
- James Smothers
- Larry Panna - drums
- Leonard "Gate" Johnson - background vocals & tambourine
Discography
- "Handa Wanda" 7" single (Crescent CityCrescent City RecordsCrescent City Records was a New Orleans, Louisiana based record label of the mid-20th century that issued Dixieland jazz recordings.The label released the first single of the band The Wild Magnolias in 1970....
, 1970) - The Wild Magnolias (BarclayBarclay RecordsBarclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
/PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
, 1974) - They Call Us Wild (Barclay, 1975)
- I'm Back...at Carnival Time (RounderRounder RecordsRounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
, 1988) - Super Sunday Showdown (collaboration with Mardi Gras IndiansMardi Gras IndiansMardi Gras Indians are African-American Carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by Native American ceremonial apparel.Collectively, their organizations are called "tribes"...
and Dr. JohnDr. JohnMalcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, 1991) - 1313 Hoodoo Street (AIM RecordsAIM RecordsAIM Records is a Norwegian record company that specializes in acoustic improvised music, both jazz and classical located in Oslo, Norway. They represent many of the new artists who are among the up and coming in the Norwegian music scene and some already well established acts.AIM is also the name...
, 1996) - Life is a Carnival (CapitolCapitol RecordsCapitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
/Metro Blue, 1999) - 30 Years and Still Wild (Pony CanyonPony Canyonis a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...
, 2002) - They Call Us Wild re-release (with The Wild Magnolias and bonus material, Sunny Side, 2007)