On the Ball

Marcia Ball's piano-powered zydeco

by Mark Edmonds

Make no mistake. After 14 years of hard work, Marcia Ball is finally known to roots-music fans. With her piano, vocal chops that seem heaven-sent, and a tight four-piece band, she regularly packs 'em in at gigs on cruise ships (she's done four of Delbert McClinton's wintertime Caribbean junkets), at a Jazz Fest in N'awlins (she's been a regular there for years), and on the road at shows such next week's Green River Music and Balloon Festival, in Greenfield, on July 19. Ball is the first to admit that things are going well for her, despite the fact that her music isn't played north of the Mason-Dixon line.

"I think that if you look at how we've gone at it over the years, you could say that we've been out there just winning them one gig at a time," she says during a tour stop in Chicago. "It's taken time, but now we have these pockets of fans in places like San Diego, DC, the Midwest, and Boston. And I sure can't complain about that."

In 1983, when Soulful Dress, her Rounder Records debut, hit the streets with its infectious gumbo of Gulf Coastal R&B and piano-powered zydeco, Ball was an unknown outside of Austin, her home base. The record launched her nationally and within several years' time helped her become one of the genre's best-loved party acts.

Follow-up releases, including Hot Tamale Baby, Gatorhythms, and 1995's Blue House, exposed her sound to new ears through airplay on public-radio blues shows. But though Tamale approximated Dress's exuberant energy (hell, the thing was named after one of Clifton Chenier's headiest boogaloo numbers), both Gator and House fell short. They lacked the blow-open-the-doors feel of Ball's earlier projects, despite strong original material and input from folks such as Duke Robillard and Joe Ely.

The same can't be said for Let Me Play with Your Poodle, her latest project. Named for its double-entendre-laden Tampa Red lead-off track, the disc recalls the variety and energy of Ball's first two projects. In addition to such party-time numbers as the zydeco-flavored title cut and a swinging, '40s-style re-do of Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow's "Crawfishin'," Poodle features a healthy dose of Memphis-style soul on its 13 tracks.

Covers of Candy Staton's "I'm Just a Prisoner" and Eddie Campbell's "I Still Love You" share space with similarly styled originals Ball wrote including the loping "The Right Tool for the Job" and two ballads, "The Story of My Life" and "For the Love of a Man," both about broken-hearted love spiced with some of the familiar touches that were found on records Stax, Hi, and Goldband issued in the '60s. Throw in Ball's smoky singing, and the results could be taken as dead ringers for covers of unknown sides.

Ball says the inspiration for many of the recent songs came from her days growing up in Vinton, Louisiana, where Staton and James Carr, a popular '60s deep-soul singer, were always on the radio.

"It's that old Memphis sound. I still listen to it a lot. In fact, `Life' was actually inspired by an old Dan Penn song," she explains referring to Penn who wrote a number of Carr's hits. "I'd been listening to him at home, and the lyrics actually came to me in the shower the same day. I just dried off, sat down, and wrote the song."

Engineered by Austin studio vet Stuart Sullivan, Poodle is populated with many of the sideplayers who've performed at Antone's and recorded for its label. Fabulous Thunderbirds drummer Fran Christina (who's touring with Ball this summer) trades off behind the kit with fellow time-keeping legend George Rains and Rodney Hunt. Also included are local horn wizard Mark Kazanoff, keyboardist Riley Osborne, and Delbert McClinton (whose "Can't Trust My Heart" appears).

Though she hasn't broken out beyond the roots-music circle, Ball doesn't mind that large-scale commercial success has eluded her. "I used to care, but now I don't," she says. "I just do the music I like, and then I sell the discs on the road."

But Ball doesn't try to dissuade others from chasing the dream of a big-time breakthrough.

"I try to be encouraging," she offers. "Awhile ago, I heard this woman who was just starting out worrying that if she ended up a one hitter, she'd spend the rest of her career selling her stuff out of the trunk of her car. So I just told her to go for it, girl. After all, once you make it, then you can sell your stuff out of a much nicer car."

Marcia Ball joins Chris Smither, zydecoer Geno Delafose, and Big Sandy & His Flyright Boys at the Green River Music & Ballon Festival at Greenfield Community College, in Greenfield, on July 19. Tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children. Call (413) 586-8686.