Marcia Ball
Peace, Love & BBQThe simple mention of a Louisiana or Texas roadhouse conjures up images of a crowded 
dancehall filled wall-to-wall with rabid music fans rocking to a hotter-than-hot band playing a smoldering blend of swampy R&B, jumping blues and heart-wrenching ballads. Pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball brings that spirit to every concert she plays and every song she records. Her music is mixed with equal parts simmering soul fervor and two-fisted piano pounding. Between her deeply emotive vocals and her incisive, often poignant songwriting, Ball is in a class by herself. Her groove-laden New Orleans R&B and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. The Boston Herald says, “Piano pounding Marcia Ball plays masterful, red hot tracks from the Texas-Louisiana border. Her voice can break your heart with a ballad or break your back with a rocker.” The Austin Chronicle heralds her as “a class act whose soulful, horn-laden swamp pop and murderous honky-tonk make her a stellar example of musical artistry.”
Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 (and also hooked up with the influential Rosebud booking agency that same year) and released the critically acclaimed PRESUMED INNOCENT, which took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for “Blues Album of the Year.” Her follow-up, SO MANY RIVERS, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” as well as the coveted “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year” award. Her next album (her first-ever live recording), LIVE! DOWN THE ROAD, released in 2005, also garnered a Grammy nomination. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 the Blues Music Awards honored Ball as the “Piano Player of the Year.” And now she’s back with her first studio album in four years, the perfectly titled PEACE, LOVE & BBQ. (“Three of my favorites things,” says Ball).
dancehall filled wall-to-wall with rabid music fans rocking to a hotter-than-hot band playing a smoldering blend of swampy R&B, jumping blues and heart-wrenching ballads. Pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball brings that spirit to every concert she plays and every song she records. Her music is mixed with equal parts simmering soul fervor and two-fisted piano pounding. Between her deeply emotive vocals and her incisive, often poignant songwriting, Ball is in a class by herself. Her groove-laden New Orleans R&B and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. The Boston Herald says, “Piano pounding Marcia Ball plays masterful, red hot tracks from the Texas-Louisiana border. Her voice can break your heart with a ballad or break your back with a rocker.” The Austin Chronicle heralds her as “a class act whose soulful, horn-laden swamp pop and murderous honky-tonk make her a stellar example of musical artistry.” Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 (and also hooked up with the influential Rosebud booking agency that same year) and released the critically acclaimed PRESUMED INNOCENT, which took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for “Blues Album of the Year.” Her follow-up, SO MANY RIVERS, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” as well as the coveted “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year” award. Her next album (her first-ever live recording), LIVE! DOWN THE ROAD, released in 2005, also garnered a Grammy nomination. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 the Blues Music Awards honored Ball as the “Piano Player of the Year.” And now she’s back with her first studio album in four years, the perfectly titled PEACE, LOVE & BBQ. (“Three of my favorites things,” says Ball).