Here's my earlier NOLA primer. Hard to go wrong with a Fats Domino or Professor Longhair greatest hits set. There's a reason it's an obvious choice: great music and huge influence. Huey Smith is great, too, as David pointed out, and I will point out that probably all of the Frankie Ford hits you're likely to encounter are Clowns' tracks with Ford's vocals plopped on top (which is not a shot; they're great records.) Allen Toussaint is the key post-Domino figure, esp. in the sixties, but also through the mid-70s ("Right Place, Wrong Time", "Lady Marmalade", "Southern Nights") he either wrote, produced, or played on seemingly every national hit out of New Orleans. And he wrote the horn charts for the live Band album "Rock of Ages"! He's also the direct link between classic r&b of Domino/Fess and the classic funk of the Meters (even more than Art Neville.) Dr. John's Gumbo is a fun overview, too. Love the funky drumming on "Junko Partner".

"Lady Madonna" is pretty much a love letter from Paul McCartney to Fats Domino. Little Feat were steeped in New Orleans music, Dixie Chicken especially, although other than the title track I'd trade the rest of it for Sailin' Shoes w/o a microsecond of regret. The Faces had a lot of New Orleans in their approach (loose sometimes to the point of sloppiness, liberal use of alcohol), the prominence of Ron Wood's guitar notwithstanding. And as a left field choice I'll throw in The Rolling Stones, Now! and "Down Home Girl". I can't leave out "Wrong 'Em Boyo" from London Calling, either, on which the Clash pay tribute to Elvis and Dylan (the false intro comes from the former's "Milk Cow Blues" and the latter's "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream), New Orleans (the horns are copped from "Sea Cruise"), and reggae ("Wrong 'Em Boyo") all in one song that they also manage to make completely their own.

I also recommend Nilsson's first two records Pandemonium Shadow Show and Aerial Ballet.

Actually, I would skip those two and go straight to Ariel Pandemonium Ballet, his reworking of the best songs of the first two albums. (And one of the five LPs of my dad's I would actually listen to regularly).

Thanks, all!

Oh, yeah... almost forgot: Nilsson. You may like Nilsson Sings Newman, although I prefer Newman singing Newman. Mostly I mention it as an excuse to say that the excellent cover is by Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean fame. And I mostly mention that as an excuse to point out that the cover of History: America's Greatest Hits is by Phil Hartman! Yes, that one. Which could explain why "A Horse With No Name" pops up in so many Newsradio episodes.

IIRC, he also designed that Poco logo with the horse. The guy liked horses like Troy McClure liked fish. Or maybe not.

Yep. This bio has links to some of his famous designs.

And now for something completely different... Iggy is on Fresh Air right now.

Rhino has two volumes of New Orleans party classics which has a nice range of rollicking New Orleans R&B including Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith and some later (somewhat funkier) tunes. But it's a good way to check out a variety of musicians in that style.

I have and recommend Vol. 1, which I think of as more "Mardi Gras music" than NOLA R&R.

I can't recommend Irma Thomas too highly -- she deserves to be ranked alongside Etta James and Aretha Franklin. But Irma is definitely soul, not R&R.

As far as NOLA R&R goes, I'll just second (and third, and fourth, and fifth) Fats Domino and the Clowns. Clarence "Frogman" Henry is primarily novelty value, which isn't a bad thing.

Don't forget the Wild Tchoupitoulas.

Clarence "Frogman" Henry is primarily novelty value

Novelty?! Because he sings like a girl? Because he sings like a frog?

Here's another interesting site about New Orleans.

In general I don't feel comfortable putting down clear lines of demarcation, and saying where something starts and something ends in the big gumbo of New Orleans is even more arbitrary, IMHO.

Don't forget the Wild Tchoupitoulas.

Case in point. You have Mardi Gras Indians backed by the Meters, the age old call-and-response tradition up against the (at the time) cutting edge of the city's funk. Clear distinctions, right? Well, not really. The repertoire was Mardi Gras standards, but some were pretty new standards like the Meters' "Hey Pocky Way". Which was of course heavily influenced by the tradition. And Meter Art Neville had recorded "Mardi Gras Mambo" over twenty years earlier. And Big Chief Jolly was the Neville Bros. uncle. Where does influence start and end? Is Longhair NOLA r&b or Mardi Gras music? His playing is in Domino's playing, and the intro to "Don't You Just Know It" is either a Fess rip or homage depending on how you want to hear it. It also was a huge influence on Toussaint, who wrote, produced, arranged, and played on the records that made Irma Thomas's career. I definitely see evolutions, but very few clear breaks. Even Little Richard -- how the hell did I forget him earlier! -- who seems like an easy place to say "here's a break," recorded with much of Domino's band and bandleader. I'm too lazy or too something to wax taxonomic. I like the gross distinctions: bad/good.

I am now listening to CCR's "Travelin' Band" from their album Cosmo's Factory, which takes its name from Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio where Little Richard recorded "Long Tall Sally" and other hits. If you don't have a copy of Greil Marcus's Mystery Train I highly recommend going to Amazon.com and taking advantage of the Search Inside feature. Pull up Mystery Train and search for either Cavett or Creedence. The story starts with Cavett, but Creedence will give you the pertinent part, Little Richard ranting on the Dick Cavett show:

"WHY, YES, IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF AAAART! THAT'S RIGHT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU KNOW, MR. CRITIC? WHY, WHEN THE CREEDENCE CLEARWATER PUT OUT WITH THEIR 'TRAVELIN' BAND' EVERYBODY SAY WHEEE-OOO BUT I KNOW IT CAUSE THEY ONLY DOING 'LONG TALL SALLY JUST LIKE THE BEATLES ANDTHESTONESANDTOMJONESANDELVIS--I AM ALL OF IT, LITTLE RICHARD HIMSELF, VERY TRULY THE GREATEST, THE HANDSOMEST, AND NOW TO YOU (to Segal, who now appears to be on the floor) AND TO YOU (to Simon, who looks to Cavett as if to say, really old man, this has been fun, but this, ah, fellow is becoming a bit much, perhaps a commercial is in order?), I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK, MYSELF, IAM A WRITER, I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK AND IT'S CALLED---

"'HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD' THAT'S IT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD! THE STORY OF MY LIFE! CAN YOU DIG IT? THAT'S MY BOY LITTLE RICHARD, SURE IS. OO MAH SOUL!" [ASSCAPS Marcus's]

Corwood, for the better part of twenty years Eliot and I have been yelling at each other "'HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD' SHUT UP! SHUT UP! HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD!" And, yes, it is effin' great.

(edited to fix rogue italics tag)