Layla is a New Orleans-based singer songwriter and slide guitarist. Drawing on a rich musical legacy via her father, blues legend Charlie Musselwhite, Layla grew up on the road steeped in the music of the greatest blues artists of our time. Charlie’s innovative playing led him to share stages and travel the world with artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Big Mama Thornton – & John Lee Hooker was Charlie’s best man when her folks decided to make it legal. These artists were legends to many and family to Layla. As a teenager she started getting lessons in Mississippi hill country guitar from Charlie, and her solo shows reveal her understanding and deep respect for early blues rhythms and melody, with a contemporary soulful voice that sends chills down the spine. You’ve got to hear her play slide. Brian Stoltz from the Meters said when they shared a stage at Chickie Wah Wah that she was “The real thing – lots of guys try to play like that and they can’t. She’s got it. Amazing.”
Layla Musselwhite & Her Cosmic Gentlemen is a tightly powerful unit of seasoned New Orleans musicians – Scott Jackson, Alex Mallet, Daniel Perez & Steve DeTroy play hard in the city and are powerhouses of music knowledge unto themselves. Seeing Layla and her band perform Robert Johnson’s Traveling Riverside Blues is a wild, reverent, party that you never thought would happen – and you never want to leave. It’s like stepping into a juke joint time machine where 70’s rock n roll kisses the blues of the 1930’s, and no one comes out unscathed. This project is an experience that could only happen here in New Orleans, bringing edgy modern funk & soul to the blues with the promise of wild things to come, in a city where legends and legacies are everywhere & the river runs through it. Come find out for yourself & get you some.
“She’s the real thing – she’s got it. Amazing.”
—BRIAN STOLTZ, GUITARIST FOR THE FUNKY METERS
“Layla Musselwhite has burst onto the New Orleans music scene with terrific songwriting, a great voice and above it all, amazing guitar chops. Imagine Muddy Waters married to Joni Mitchell.”
— JIMMY ROBINSON & NEW ORLEANS GUITAR MASTERS “BEST OF THE FEST”, ROLLING STONE
