Country Roots singer Kim Carson will command the Acura Stage at The New Orleans 2008 Jazz and Heritage Festival on Friday, April 25 at 12:30 PM. Carson is no stranger to Jazz Fest, having played the festival eleven times in fifteen years with her unique sound which evokes what critics call "the real deal country." Carson's influences include Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and the great Loretta Lynn. This year's opener for the seven day festival sees Carson's star aligned with names such as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Susan Cowsill and Sheryl Crow.
After Kim Carson's 2005 Jazz Fest performance, Live New Orleans said, "Kim Carson was in full control. With her broad smile and swagger, she emitted an undeniable aura. She and her band had such a hold on the songs that the Jazz Fest performance on Friday was a no-lose situation."
Alex Rawls of New Orleans' OffBeat Magazine has said, "Kim Carson is as fine a roots/country singer as someone like Rosie Flores. Her brand of high Octane Twang is traditional without being retro."
Readers of OffBeat named Kim Carson "Best Country Artist" eight times. Her concert album "Live at Tipitina's" was voted "Best Country Album" of 2004. She's a hard working, full-time musician performing in old-time music clubs from Texas to Florida to Nashville and has appeared on several "Outlaw country" shows with David Allan Coe, Junior Brown, Dale Watson, Jesse Dayton, John Anderson, The Hollisters and Loretta Lynn.
Kim Carson is a well-known face on the Gulf music scene and is a staple at Bay Fest in Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Rounding out the venue roster, Carson is a regular at the dancehall in legendary Luckenbach, Texas and has played the famous Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee.
Carson and her band, with members from the Casualties and Buffalo Speedway, did a three-month tour of Europe last summer and will return to the European Union for twelve weeks, performing in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands.
"I really enjoy traveling and the people who come out to hear live music are my kind of people," Carson says about her European audiences. "Country music is like Levi's," Carson says. "It's very American. Europeans are fascinated by our western heritage."
Carson has just released a new compilation CD. "Looking Back -- 1997 'Till Now." There are three new songs on the compilation, which is a retrospective of her last five recordings.
This year marks the first time since Hurricane Katrina delivered a body blow to the Gulf Coast that a seventh day will be added to the festival, which runs April 25-27 & May 1-4, 2008. The extra day is a "sign that Jazz Fest -- and the city of New Orleans -- is returning to normal," said Quint Davis, Jazz Fest's producer/director.
Hurricane Katrina hit Carson and many New Orleans' musicians hard, but she has vowed to make the Crescent City her permanent home once again. "Going Back to Louisiana" is Carson's ode to the state where her face and music are well known from French Quarter Fest to the Louisiana Crawfish Festival. Carson donated the song to a Katrina Compilation CD.
Jazz Fest began in 1970, and celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. Blues, R&B, gospel music, Cajun music, Zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk music, Latin, rock, rap music, country music, jazz and bluegrass dominate the event.
For more information on Kim Carson, including tour dates and music purchases go to www.kimcarson.com and www.myspace.com/kimcarsonmusic.