BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Bayou soul singer Marc Broussard has flirted with the blues throughout a career that has combined R&B, soul and rock into southern rock-influenced pop that gave him two Top 40 Adult chart hits in the mid-2000s.
- Bayou soul singer Marc Broussard will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem
- Tickets, at $30-$40, are available at www.steelstacks.org or 610-297-7100
- Broussard will perform some songs from his new album, "S.O.S. 4: Blues for Your Soul"
But when Broussard decided to go full-on blues for the fourth and latest offering in a string of fund-raising, genre-specific “Save Our Soul” discs he has released since 2007 — the disc will raise money for issues regarding incarceration, so “I figured blues was on the order,” he said — he knew he would need some guidance.
“Blues has always kind of been in my wheelhouse but not my area of expertise,” Broussard said in a recent phone call from his home in Carencro, Louisiana, in advance of his Tuesday, June 27, show at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.
“And I got to say, man, making that record was probably the most comfortable I’ve ever been in the studio."Singer Marc Broussard
So Broussard said he was talking with his best friend and bassist Calvin Turner — “a buddy of mine who I talk with about all things music related,” he said — who suggested he call blues guitar great Joe Bonamassa, for whom Turner also plays bass.
“Well, I called him — I reached out and said, ‘Man, I want to make a blues record, I’d love some help,’” Broussard said. “And he’s, like, ‘We’d love to produce it. And I’d love to use my band and play on it.’ It was about that easy.
“I was really just looking for guidance on picking a playlist, but Joe and his team jumped right on board, man. They loved the vision, they were OK with the charitable aspect of everything and within no time we had a full-on plan, very, very quickly put together.”
Comfort in the studio
The result is “S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul,” a rollicking blast of blues not only released on Bonamassa’s K.T.B.A. Records label in March, but that also was produced by Bonamassa and features Bonamassa on guitar and other blues dignitaries keyboardist Reese Wynans, guitarists Eric Krasno and Roddie Romero and vocalist JJ Grey.
“And I got to say, man, making that record was probably the most comfortable I’ve ever been in the studio,” Broussard said.
Broussard said that comfort level started with composing the setlist, which includes songs by Son House, Little Milton, Guitar Watson, Bobby “Blue” Bland.
For the “S.O.S.” album series, which started with 2007’s “S.O.S.: Save Our Soul” — a disc that hit the Top 100 overall albums chart and Top 10 on the Independent chart — Broussard said he always has “just really asked all of the stakeholders — the guys in the band, the producers, my manager – to put together playlists” for the discs.
“It just lends itself for me feeling very comfortable, vocally. It was very easy for me to get in the vocal booth and do my thing."Singer Marc Broussard
He said “management always wants more hit songs, fans always want more B-sides, obscure cuts. So it’s just a democratic process working down that list.”
With this album, Broussard said, Turner and co-producer Josh Smith “both submitted playlists together that ultimately had everything that we ended up cutting … and everybody agreed that that was the right playlist.
“It just lends itself for me feeling very comfortable, vocally. It was very easy for me to get in the vocal booth and do my thing. And to do it with that caliber of a player — with the kind of guys Joe’s got around him and the kind of guy Joe is, it’s just — I don’t know, man, it was a very comfortable place to be, to say the least.
The people in the studio also were a comfort, Broussard said.
In addition to having Turner — “a best friend for the past 20 or so years in the studio with me,” Broussard said Gray “is an old buddy of mine” who had played on 2016’s “Save Our Soul: Soul on a Mission.”
“I’ve known J.J. for a long time, and I love his voice and I thought he’d be perfect for the Howling Wolf tune [“I Asked for Water”],” he said.
“Eric Krasno [who performs on Bland’s “I Got to Use My Imagination”] is also an old pal. He and I have known each other forever. And he happened to be in town when I reached out and he came over to the studio and knocked it out.
Broussard said he also brought his own guitar player, Bobby Schneck Jr., “along for the ride – bringing a guitar player to a Bonamassa session is like bringing water to the beach. But nonetheless, Joe is a really, really sweet dude. A humble cat — had no issue whatsoever giving up the chair whenever it called for it.
“It was just all around a very pleasant experience, man.”
The latest success story
“S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul” is the latest success story for Broussard, a son of guitarist Ted Broussard, a former member of Cajun swamp pop and blue-eyed soul group The Boogie Kings and a Louisiana Hall of Fame member.
Broussard first hit the charts in 2004 with his album “Carencro,” which hit No. 30 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, with the songs “Where You Are” in 2004 and “Home’ in 2005 hitting the Top 40 on the Adult Hits chart.
He continued to have success though 2014’s “A Life Worth Living,” which hit No. 9 on the Independent chart.
”Just tell the folks to make sure to bring their dancing shoes, ‘cause we’re gonna have a good time."Singer Marc Broussard
More recently, a piano version of Broussard’s “Gavin’s Song” —a song, written to his then-infant son and first released on “Carenco“ — that he included on his 2017 album “Easy To Love” went to No. 1 on the Adult chart, giving Broussard his highest-charting song ever.
He recorded it again in 2019 in a duet with chart-topping Christian singer Lauren Daigle for his album “S.O.S. 3: A Lullaby Collection.”
“Lauren is an old pal — she’s from the same place that I am; she and I are both from South Louisiana, and my brother is actually her production manager. He’s been working for her for the last six years or something,” Broussard said.
“We were looking for guests to make that album happen, and I reached out and she said, ‘I love ‘Gavin’s Song.’ Let’s do it.’ Jumped right at it, no problem.’”
Also in 2019, Broussard took part in the multi-artist album “A Jazz Celebration of The Allman Brothers Band” album. Broussard sang two of The Allmans’ biggest songs, "Statesboro Blues" and "Whipping Post."
“Man, I know what I’ve done in this life to be in the good graces to get that call,” Broussard said. “Those two songs are truly iconic. And I guess somebody out there thought that I was the guy to call.”
Broussard said he has original-music albums in the works that would be his first since “Easy To Love.”
“We’re actually in talks right now with Eric Krasno to produce the next original album, and we’re in talks with Joe and Josh to produce another blues album,” he said. “I would expect at least two new projects out in the next 12 months if I had to guess.”
Broussard said he has been playing “at least a couple of songs from the blues record” at his concerts for the last few months, “and we’re slowly working some of that material in, as well.”
”Just tell the folks to make sure to bring their dancing shoes, ‘cause we’re gonna have a good time,” he said.
