ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD plus NEVILLE JACOBS

ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD plus NEVILLE JACOBS Before they even hit a chord, ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD have your attention. In the US South, where music is religion, two rock ‘n’ roll bloodlines tower above all others. In the saloon bars from Mississippi to Maryland, mere mention of the Neville Brothers casts a magic spell. Conversation falls silent. Pool balls stop rolling. Ten-gallon hats are tipped in respect and beer-bottles raised in salute. Royal Southern Brotherhood comes pre-loaded with expectations. Don’t worry: they can match them. The family tree might be auspicious, but this new band trades on talent, not genealogy. It’s not about rock history: it’s about the here-and-now. Right now, the buzz is all about Royal Southern Brotherhood’s debut album, bottled with producer Jim Gaines in Louisiana. But let’s rewind to the summer of 2010 and the stifling heat of New Orleans: the city that both hosted the Allmans’ early residence as house band at The Warehouse. Talk turned to forming a new breed of blues-rock band, and when jams began at a secluded studio in the city’s Garden District, the fizzing chemistry was too strong to deny. A fistful of demos hinted at the project’s potential, and the web buzzed as a volley of teaser videos hit YouTube, but Royal Southern Brotherhood truly arrived when they broke cover in the flesh at their debut show at New Orleans’ Rock ‘N’ Bowl last September. This was southern rock, but not as we knew it, as tumbling three-part harmonies and hickory-smoked guitar riffs weaved together both families’ styles with added rocket-fuel. The crowd reaction said it all: Royal Southern Brotherhood had crashed the rock scene like a wrecking ball. This lineup has talent to burn. You’ll already know Cyril Neville: poet, philosopher, percussion master and perhaps the South’s last great soul singer. At 63, this is the latest chapter in a career that began with 1970’s debut solo single, Gossip, and his touchdown in the lineup of older brother Art’s funk outfit, The Meters, who had already hit big with 1969’s immortal Cissy Strut. Cyril lent percussion and vocals to classic albums including 1972’s Cabbage Alley and 1975’s Fire On The Bayou, and when über-fan Mick Jagger invited The Meters to open the Rolling Stones’ stadium tour of 1975, he suggested Cyril took vocals (they agreed). Post-Meters, he’s been key to the rise of The Neville Brothers, created alchemy with Bob Dylan, Bono and Willie Nelson, toured with funk act Galactic, led his solo band Tribe 13, and made TV appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and HBO’s Treme. It’s one hell of a CV… but he’s only just getting started. But like Cyril says, it’s all about making “a good gumbo”, and that’s where God’s own rhythm section comes in. Giving Royal Southern Brotherhood its hip-shaking groove are bassist Charlie Wooton and drummer Yonrico Scott: both heavyweight names in their own right, with Charlie’s bass chops celebrated on the Southern jam scene for his sets with the Woods Brothers, and Yonrico hitting the skins for luminaries including the Derek Trucks Band, Gregg Allman and the Allman Brothers themselves. When these five stellar musicians come together as Royal Southern Brotherhood, the planets align. They said that rock ‘n’ roll was dead, but they were wrong. Right now, in 2014, there’s something in the air, as Royal Southern Brotherhood drag their thrilling new brand of blues-rock and white-hot musicianship from the Southern States onto the world stage. The South is rising again. Come along for the ride. This event was created by TicketBiscuit.