Allen Toussaint

The 19 annual Crawfish Festival is this weekend.

New Orleans songwriting legend Allen Toussaint is Sunday's headliner.

'The Toussaint catalog numbers over six hundred songs--some written under his mother's maiden name, Naomi Neville. It includes such rock and soul classics as Southern Nights, Working in the Coal Mine, Lipstick Traces, Ruler of my Heart (Pain in My Heart), Ride Your Pony, I Like It Like That, Mother-In-Law, Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley, Fortune Teller, Freedom for the Stallion, and summing up the Toussaint musical philosophy, Everything I Do Gunna Be Funky and Yes We Can, Can.

The variety of artists who have recorded Toussaint songs further attests to the ubiquitousness of his music: the Pointer Sisters, Boz Scaggs, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Manhattan Transfer, Ringo Starr, Gladys Knight & the Pips, B.J. Thomas, Esther Phillips, the Band, Otis Redding, Little Feat, Three Dog Night, Maria Muldaur, José Feliciano, Jerry Garcia Band, Devo, Robert Palmer, Sam & Dave, Johnny Winter, the Judds and countless others.'



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