Slide guitarist, singer and songwriter Marc Stone has been a standout presence on the New Orleans Roots music since the 1990s. A stylistic chameleon, he has released 4 albums of original music and toured extensively in the US and Europe. His guitar work has earned him stage time with legends of Funk, Zydeco, New Orleans RnB and Delta Blues, as well as jam band heroes, singer songwriters and African drum masters. When he’s not on the road or on stage at home, he’s behind the mic at New Orleans’ iconic radio sender, WWOZ 90.7-fm, celebrating 20 years hosting of his weekly “Soul Serenade”.
New Orleans’ vocal prodigy Marilyn Barbarin was just 15 years old when she cut lead vocals for the scorching 1970 Eddie Bo funk masterpiece “Reborn”. Her ringing, soulful voice would also grace Bo produced classics like “Check Your Bucket”, “THANG”, and “Can I Be Your Squeeze”, putting her in the company of master drummer James Black and a young Walter “Wolfman” Washington. Original 45s of her cuts from that era are prized among collectors, fetching hundreds of dollars per copy when they come up for sale. From the famed Creole musical family that anchored Louis Armstrong’s seminal bands two generations earlier and included Danny Barker, Marilyn’s natural talent and musical upbringing had her performing professionally at age 11. By her early teens she would be recording underground Funk and RnB classics.
Now Marilyn has joined forces with later Eddie Bo band alumnus Marc Stone and Radiators/Professor Longhair bassist Reggie Scanlan, Dr. John drummer Terry Scott, Jr. and others to bring the sound and spirit of the Soul Finders back to the stage. Marilyn’s New Orleans church raised vocals drip with down home soul and funky grace, and the band lays down the kind of deep, fiery grooves that powered the great Soul Finders recordings. Digging deep into the heaviest corners of the New Orleans catalog, they bring the heat that made Marilyn’s recordings with Eddie Bo enduring landmarks of psychedelic funk and soul. The New Soul Finders! debut single “The Truth (Is What I Wanna Know)” marks Marilyn’s first release in over a decade, and she is on fire!
