Teddy’s Juke Joint: Keep the Chitlin’ Circuit Alive
sally-anne torres staff
Breaking the Rules: Leroy Martin and the Sugar Bowl
gabrielle chaisson staff In a time when Jim Crow laws banned whites and Blacks from integrating, a white Golden Meadow native broke the rules for the love of music. Leroy Martin was born on Aug. 4, 1929, in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, and served as a Lafourche Parish assessor, a disc jockey for KTIB radio station […]
The Sugar Bowl
sarah kraemer features editor Every Saturday night, the Sugar Bowl’s walls reverberated with the sound of the blues and R&B. The club was a safe space where the community would gather for entertainment and support when needed. The club was known for its Cajun food and live music. It was one of the most popular […]
An Overlooked Artifact: Moses, Allen Chapel, Calvary Cemeteries
gabrielle chaissson staff Hidden among Thibodaux, Louisiana’s side streets lies a cemetery with a deep connection to the Chitlin’ Circuit. Hosea Hill and Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, two significant circuit figures, are buried in Moses, Allen Chapel, Calvary Cemeteries. Hill owned the Sugar Bowl—a venue that brought the circuit down to Thibodaux—and he managed “Guitar […]
Recreating the Circuit: The Sugar Bowl
jaci remondet staff
Getting on the Chitlin’ Circuit
skylar neal staff Musicians like Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitsgerald and Sam Cooke made their debut on the Chitlin’ Circuit. “You really had to play, ‘cause those people were really hard to please… That’s where I learned to play, really, in Nashville [on the Chitlin Circuit],” Hendrix says in a 1967 interview […]
How the Circuit Got Its Name
jaci remondet staff A distinct smell travels through the air as water starts to boil over the hot stove fire. The oil hisses as the holy trinity — onion, green bell pepper and celery — sauté together. Chitterlings are on the menu for dinner tonight. Chitterlings, sometimes spelled chitlins or chittlins, can be prepared in […]
Chitlin’ Circuit’s Start in the Bayou Region
sally-anne torres staff In the mid-1900s, music could be heard throughout the Bayou Region of South Louisiana when the sun set. Playing through the night, blues, rock, jazz and soul harmonized with the late-night laughter of African American artists who established venues for performers since they were not allowed in white spaces. Frank Painai owned […]
The Lost Bayou: Chitlin Circuit – new
sarah kraemer features editor The 1930s to the 1960s were the height of blues, jazz, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll music. It was also the height of Jim Crow segregation in the South. In a time when Black musicians could not perform at popular, career-making venues, these musicians had to find unique ways to play […]
The Lost Bayou: Chitlin Circuit
sarah kraemer features editor The 1930s to the 1960s were the height of blues, jazz, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll music. It was also the height of Jim Crow segregation in the South. In a time when Black musicians could not perform at popular, career-making venues, these musicians had to find unique ways to play […]