Brian Langlinais - Right Hand Road (2016)

You could say Brian Langlinais’ new recording, Right Hand Road, was birthed by an ice storm, but that would be getting ahead of the story.

Long before that weather event, the album’s roots ran from sea to sea along I-10, home to a slew of bars and nightclubs where bands earn gas money between major cities. For decades, these venues have fostered the uniquely American art form called roadhouse music: a big tent under which blues, country, zydeco, and even jazz come together—often in the same band. Roadhouse legends such as Delbert McClinton, Marcia Ball, Omar and the Howlers, Mason Ruffner, and Lee Roy Parnell all came through Langlinais’ hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, where he cut his teeth in bands playing this crowd-pleasing music...