From the recording Evening From Hillcrest
I started writing this song in New Orleans. Our band was attending a music conference and we also got a club date, which was very cool.
I wrote about two dozen verses, some on the airplane home and these are the survivors. I worked out the music in D minor open tuning blues format. It’s my take on New Orleans, the vibrancy of the place with it’s troubled history and inequalities. God Don’t Live in New Orleans was added to our Evening From Hillcrest album with special guest Joey Landreth. It was recorded during Covid with all it’s challenges.
FREDRICK BROOKS - LEAD VOCALS, ACOUSTIC GUITAR
JOY BROOKS - HARMONY VOCALS
ROBBIE GRUNWALD - KEYBOARDS, BASS
JOEY LANDRETH - ELECTRIC GUITAR
CHRIS PEZZARELLO - DRUMS
Recorded and produced by Robbie Grunwald - Raven Tape Music Room and Union Sound - Chris Stringer and Darren McGill
Mastered by Justin Gray - Immersive Mastering
Lyrics
GOD DON’T LIVE IN NEW ORLEANS
There’s no bread on my table at the end of day
Bad moon is rising here no sign of relief
My life’s laid open more naked than grief
Won’t somebody help me - somebody please
Chorus
From ashes I’ve heard a flower may grow
But it’s more deadly than sin more lightning than soul
I’m down to my last dime broken and rolled
Just a man on his knees
When God don’t live in New Orleans
So I carry this weight and it follows me home
As poverty wails I curse it’s load
I long for new eyes - ones that shine with hope
When shame is at the heart of it - you’ve got no place to go
Chorus
We’re just shadows of this city it’s forgotten soul
As floodwaters recede the mercy goes home
There’s justice for the rich man but not for the poor
Something is rotten here and I can’t take it now more
Chorus
© Fredrick Brooks