Perhaps no city in America has a richer musical heritage than New Orleans, where the various traditions of Southern music — blues, zydeco, jazz, R&B, and soul have mingled for centuries — and the sounds of its Cajun and Creole populations mix freely. In their recent performance at Jammin Java, two distinctive singer-songwriters who’ve made the Crescent City their home, Anna Moss and Sabine McCalla, shared their distinctive musical visions.
The two artists shared a band and backed up each other up in their sets, with Moss, who was born and raised in the rural Ozark Mountains, playing first. She started the evening with “I Never Meant to Fall in Love With You,” then invited Sari Jordan to sing with the band on “Faultlines.”
Anna’s unique personality came through when she introduced “Penis Envy” with a shpiel about how balls, just knowing they’re out here, hanging, stress her out. I appreciate the wordplay of “Moss On a Log,” which she’s going to release on the next album she’s making with her band, The Handmade Moments. She shared her fantasy of wanting to be moss on a log in a future life, and she complimented our local moss, saying she’d been sticking her face in it. I said, “I hope you don’t have allergies,” to which she replied, “I don’t.”
Watch Anna Moss perform live for WWOZ on YouTube:
The set continued “Colors,” then “Slow Down, Kamikaze,” which she said was one of the first songs she wrote for this project. She played a new song, “Like Mary,” and was joined again by Sari for the next song. Introducing “Gravy,” Moss described how falling in love is like falling a vat of gravy, warm and soothing, which I suppose is true, as long as the gravy isn’t boiling. “If I Was A Train” is about her love of trains; I shared that I worked for the DC Metrorail and she dedicated the song to me. She also mentioned she relaxes by watching Thomas the Tank Engine videos on YouTube.
I didn’t catch the title of the last song in her set, but she mentioned it uses a traditional Brazilian instrument, and she was lucky to have a Brazilian drummer in her band who could play it.
After intermission, Sabine McCalla took over. She comes from a musical family: her sister, Leyla, is also a musician. She started with a very New Orleans song, “I Went Down to the Levee,” followed by “Anything Without You.” Introducing “Two of Hearts,” she said she isn’t “one of those people who fall in and out of love easily,” adding that she needs someone to pine for her for “at least six months.”
Watch the official music video for “Anything Without You” by Sabine McCalla on YouTube:
“You Ain’t No Weight” is inspired by the life story of a woman from Martinique who was married to the governor and edited all of his correspondence. Before playing “Save My Soul,” she said, “I like to sing about love and other crimes, and sometimes I pray. This is a prayer.”
Sari joined the band for the next song, “Sunshine Kisses,” which was inspired by Brazilian music and the book Pleasure Activism, which argues for an approach to social activism that incorporates joy and even erotic pleasure. I see this line of thought coming from a number of artists, like Sturgill Simpson’s “Make America Fuck Again” and Low Cut Connie characterization of Livin’ in the USA as both a protest and a party record. It’s a tradition that goes back to George Clinton’s Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow and Sly Stone’s There’s A Riot Going On.
Anna played bass clarinet on the next song, which Sabine said “is a true story.” “Louisiana Hound Dog” is about a dog, Pima (Creole for hound), that she found on the street. McCalla finished her set with a “relatively new one” that she started writing during the pandemic and hasn’t released yet.
I really enjoyed both artists. Anna’s personality resonated with me; I get why Steve Poltz, who’s quite the character, says she’s his favorite songwriter working today. Don’t ever stop being your weird, unique, beautiful self, Anna!
