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Michael Mullins (trombone) and Bradford Lewis (guitar) — two more members of the Legacy Coalition, and bandmates in their own project — join us to fill in the rest of the story.
They walk us through how the Coalition really came together: an idea years in the making, a chance meeting at a recording session, and the moment a teenage keyboard player named River showed up and made the whole thing click. They talk about their new single "Brand New Day," a music video shoot funded in part by a Jazz and Heritage Foundation grant, and the weight — and the freedom — of carrying a family legacy forward. As Bradford puts it: "our job is not to fill their shoes, our job is to wear our own."
Only In The Green Room goes backstage with the artists carrying jam, funk, roots, and Americana music forward.
Creators and Guests
Host
What is Only In The Green Room?
Welcome to Only In The Green Room - Backstage conversations from popular music venues around the country curated by Mount Tam Media.
Buckle up and listen in, as host Dennis Strazulo and Mount Tam Media founder, Tami Larson, dig up conversations with artists - before and after shows - in the exclusive confines of the green room. Barriers are down with stories abound!
Welcome to Only in the Green Room.
Very much, uh, uh, we
have a similar language.
I mean, we'll… You know, the funny
thing is is sometimes we'll start…
Like, someone will start a lick,
and we'll kind of all kind of know
where they're going with it, and we
start jamming on a certain thing.
I mean, we do that on the
song Love The One You're With.
We do that a lot.
It's just like all the vocabulary is
very similar, and, um, it's easy to play.
Yeah.
You know, it's… The band doesn't
really need that much rehearsal, but
we like to have cool things we write
and arrange, and that's why we need
it.
Now, what, what was it that River said?
I mean, just in case that didn't get in.
Uh, the… Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, River put the whole legacy, you
know, thing very, very succinctly,
and, uh, that's just basically that
we're a band of brothers that hadn't
met before, you know, before we did.
Or like it feels like in a way we've
known each other our whole lives, uh,
and that's just based on the culture we
shared growing up and the music we shared
growing up and, and how that informed
who we are as, as musicians and people.
And you kind of elaborated
on that and said that also
translates into friendship and-
Yeah, that's why we get
nothing done in rehearsal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So all right, the, the idea, I think,
uh, River talked about it a little
bit or maybe Omari did, but just
the idea of the Legacy Coalition.
In your mind, how did that formulate?
Well, it was actually
his mind, uh, primarily.
And-
Yeah.
Well, I, I had the idea 'cause,
well, obviously, like Michael and
I were already playing together,
and like our dads have met before
and like in the scene and stuff.
And then we had met Rodney at
NOCA 'cause he was on like one of
the first sessions we did- Yeah
like doing drum tech stuff at,
at- Yeah … the studio at NOCA.
And I was like, "Wait a second." 'Cause
like we're hanging out doing a show, and
like the week before that my dad and his
dad were out in Switzerland playing a
festival over there together, and they've
like… They… And then like, you know,
they'd be playing down on Bourbon Street.
It'd be like my dad at one club,
and like directly across the street
you could look out the window and
wave, and it'd be Raymond on the
other side of the street, you know?
So then I was like, "Well, we gotta
do something with Rodney, and we need
some other people." And Michael at the
time was doing some gigs with Cyril,
so Austin and Omari were in on that.
And then we were… It took like a year
and a half or so of us being like, "Okay,
who do we get on keys?" And finally, this
little kid hit the scene, and this River
killing, absolutely killing the game.
We're like, "That one."
It's pretty crazy how that ca-…
I didn't even think about that.
That was the final piece,
and it was like that's…
Yeah, of course.
Like you know.
I was… I was talking to his mom
the other night 'cause we were at
Maple Leaf for a long time, and I, I
didn't realize he was 15 last year.
He's 16?
And how old
are you guys?
Like- We're both 25, right?
Yeah,
both 25.
25. Wow.
Yeah.
It's wonderful
how all of a sudden this little kid came
along.
Yeah, no.
But it's, it's, it's… It was crazy.
It was like, "Whoa." And then
I can't remember where we saw
him play before we hit him up.
Yeah.
We had seen him somewhere.
I can't just-
I can't place it right now, but
yeah, it was that kinda thing.
Yeah, he makes us feel old, and we're 25.
Oh, no.
It was… We were, we were
recording the Zeta record at Jake's
House- Oh, that's what it was
and we could hear River practicing in
the house- That's right … like as
we were like outside in the backyard.
That's right.
Did he have his sunglasses on
doing the Stevie Wonder thing?
Well,
you know, yesterday he was interviewed
at the, uh, festival, uh, Jazz Fest,
and who's your favorite podcaster?
Well,
he's not my-
Come on.
Besides-
Well, it's Tim Miller.
So, uh- Well, I mean,
Tim
Miller.
He's got a huge following, right?
I was
like, "Tim Miller." So Tim Miller.
Uh, yeah, Tim Miller.
And, uh, but he asked… they asked
him, "Who are you listening to?" Which
we're gonna ask you that question, too.
Oh.
But, um, who, who… you know,
who do you listen to besides,
you know, your own music?
Yeah, yourself.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, he said Stevie Wonder,
and I just… I mean, can you see it?
I mean-
Right
I mean, he's just, he's got
the Stevie Wonder look going.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so- Oh.
Yeah.
He's got the whole
thing.
He, he definitely does.
Who, who else- And so are you guys, like,
I mean, uh, do, do you treat… He seems
like a very old soul, like older than most
adults that we know, most monks we know.
I don't know.
But-
How do you treat him?
That's what you're asking?
Yeah.
Kind of like a l- like a little
brother, like to be honest.
Like, it's really funny.
And he'll like… That kid is hilarious
'cause like we'll, like our group
chats too, not just the rehearsals, but
like the group chats are utter chaos.
Like Omari will send like a video of like
a WWE clip or like we'll say something
and River will crack a joke in the
group chat, and that kid is hilarious.
Yeah,
he's witty.
Yeah.
And
he, and he's sarcastic too.
Like, I, I asked a question or something
and he was just like, I mean, he
remembered me obviously from last year,
and he was just like, "We'll get to
that." Yeah, that's him.
You know?
He just like, he just shut me down.
I'm like, "Whoa."
He'll do that.
And I don't even think
he's trying to be funny.
I think it's just who he is,
it's, which is way funnier.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, his dad's a badass too, huh?
Of
course.
Yeah.
It's his birthday today actually.
Oh, Jake's?
It's Jake's birthday today.
Oh, happy birthday.
Happy birthday, Jake.
Oh.
Oh, is it?
Happy birthday, Jake.
He's fif- 50.
Happy birthday.
Big 5-0.
All right.
Hopefully he's gonna come.
Uh, that probably is.
Yeah, I would think so.
Yeah.
Who, who else is in the band?
Are there any other, uh,
legacy folks in the band?
Or did you round it out
with some people that-
Uh, well, like, so I guess the one
that you guys haven't talked to is
Austin Clements- Yes … and his dad
is Cranston Clements, guitar player,
great guitar player from, uh, from
here in New Orleans, and he, uh, used
to play with the Neville Brothers.
He used to play with a slew of different
people- Yeah … uh, in the city.
So- And then we just had, uh, our
saxophonist, Chris Spees, I just saw
him walk by- Yeah … and wave at us.
Um-
Yeah, we're lucky enough to have the
horn section today- Yeah … which
is a legacy horn section.
Yep.
It's two, two legacy guys, Chris
Spees and Aurelian Barnes, who,
dad Sunpie Barnes, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Aurelian from the, The Rumble.
Indeed.
Yeah.
Yes, indeed.
Yeah.
We met him here last year.
We- Real, real privilege
to have them both.
You had a rec- you have
a record, a single.
Yeah, we just put a single out.
Yeah, a single.
Tell us, uh, promote that thing.
Tell me about it.
Oh,
yeah.
Well, that one's called Brand New Day.
We, uh, went and recorded that at,
uh, Jake's studio, and it was r-
that was like another case of like
we kinda had the structure down and
everything, but then there was some
stuff that happened where it was just
like all of us sharing similar intuition
from the stuff we were raised on.
Yeah It was, yeah.
It was that, it was that, like, the
song kind of wrote itself in a way.
I know that's cliche to say, but like,
you know, uh, we, we, we had the lyric…
Like Omari, Bradford, River, and I
all wrote a verse or bridge, whatever.
And, uh, yeah, and the rest of
it kind of fa- fell into place.
We're like, "We're gonna go here with
this chord. We're gonna go here with
this chord." But in terms of, like,
the licks and riffage, like all that
vocabulary, that's, that's like- Riffage.
I love it.
All of us have that, yeah.
All of us have that, you know?
It's very similar.
Um, I'm still trying to steal
some of Bradford's 'cause he has
some cool ones, but, you know, for
the most part- They're all right.
So when you have a single like that,
what do you… I mean, w- what do you do?
You just promote it to, for
people to listen to it on all
streaming platforms, or, I
mean- Yeah, something like that.
Yeah, it's-
I, yeah, I mean, it's so hard just to
have tell- Yeah … tell the business.
Especially nowadays, the, like-
Yeah … promotional meta is, like, you
gotta make short form videos, and you
gotta do all this and this and that.
What's up?
It's, it's really that, and that
segues into another thing, which
is, like, the way to promote it
is, uh, it's, yeah, like Bradford
said, it's a lot of visual mediums.
Um, and we're working on a music
video right now for the, for the
Brand New Day single, and, uh, so
that's gonna be out this summer.
Uh, we're finishing it up.
On Wednesday is gonna be the last
shooting day at, uh, Riverbend Land
Yacht, the other, other sort of Days
Between festival we're doing this week.
Um, so that's, that's probably
the biggest promotional piece,
and we'll have some, uh…
We were lucky enough to get a grant from
the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, um,
and we're gonna have some promotional
funding that, that, uh, that will go
to, um, for the video and all that.
So yeah, that's really the, the
main ways, you know, other than
just sharing it on social media
and trying to spread the word.
It's kind of like your
calling card, right?
I
mean- Yeah, yeah,
exactly … you're- Yeah.
Yeah,
exactly.
Right.
And what about, and what about touring?
I mean, River's gonna… Are you all
going- I'm doing Ice here with
a band called Codadosa, yeah.
Okay.
Different band.
We're all in, like, a, a
bunch of different groups.
So- Okay, but will you ever come
together as- Build, you know, a
legacy while you're at High Sierra?
Well- That's kind of what High
Sierra is all about, you know?
It
is.
You know, I, I, I gotta talk to
Dave and see if we can, uh- Dave
would be- … pop on the
bill … so into that.
I know, yeah.
I mean, yeah, River T just was
sitting here talking about that.
Really?
He said the thing that makes High
Sierra so special is the artists
coming together, collaborating
in different ways- Yeah, yeah
and different stages, so.
Well- Have you been to High Sierra before?
I never have.
Oh my God.
Oh.
Well, you're coming this year,
you just said.
Yeah.
I'm coming this year, yeah.
Oh, it's amazing.
You're gonna love it.
Yeah.
You'll love it.
I've heard amazing things.
And that's with Harvest, so you guys
will definitely be playing together,
so you better practice a little bit.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, yeah.
So what are we gonna hear today?
We're gonna, uh, similar to
what we saw at the French
Quarter Fest for your set or…?
Uh, very, yeah, pretty, pretty similar.
Um, we have a couple more tunes that
we're gonna be able to include in
there, 'cause we have a longer set.
We have a 90-minute set today, so.
Oh, nice.
Excellent.
Uh, it's gonna be fun.
And then we got a special guest
on keys coming up today t- later
too, 'cause River's gotta cut
out for, uh, the WWOZ Piano Night
tonight, which is very, very cool.
Y'all c- you can check
that out online, yeah.
But, uh, so for the last song,
we're gonna have, uh, Dan
Suveny from Buddy Guy's band.
Oh, very nice.
And, uh, and, and Kingfish's band.
He- he's gonna play with us, so.
Oh, that's very cool.
It's gonna be really exciting.
Very awesome.
Good thing this is live radio.
Everybody will be pouring in here
if you- Yeah, I know … for
that
one.
Yeah.
One of
those special guests anymore.
And then why don't you guys give a
plug of your, your other bands too.
Yeah.
Oh, other bands.
Yeah.
Other bands.
Well, well, together Michael and
I play in a band called Zita.
That's Z-I-T-A.
We just actually did a show s-
at some point this weekend, but
it was like 1:00 AM at the Maple
Leaf, so I forgot most of it.
Um-
Seems l- I think everyone did.
Yeah.
Probably for the best.
Yeah.
Well, we will be checking
out that as well.
So yeah, so Zita, and you're with
Omari Double in The Fuel nowadays.
Yeah, I just, I just joined up with
Omari, so I'm playing in The Fuel.
And then, so I just did my first,
second, and third gigs with them,
which was, uh, Thursday at Congo
Square Stage, Thursday night at Chicky
Wah Wah with Cyril, and then Friday
on the festival stage with Cyril.
So I kinda got thrown
in the deep end on that
one.
Yeah, you did.
And, uh…
And, uh, Ben Delgado, uh, he sat
in with you the other day, yeah?
He did.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, good friend of mine.
We, we play in Codadosa
together, he and I. You do?
So we're gonna be at
High Sierra this summer.
Oh, he'll be there.
Awesome.
Yeah, in, yeah, in that
horn section.
There he is.
Right on.
Right on.
Oh, there's
Omari now.
Look
at
him.
There he is.
Yeah.
There
he is.
Oh.
What up?
Legacy Five.
Legacy.
What up, baby?
Hi, how are
you?
Yeah.
Pump your hand in the air.
Come happen.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm
gonna sit
down.
Good to see you, man.
How y'all feel?
Feeling good.
Just in, just in ca- just in case you
forgot to say something the other day,
this is your chance to correct the record.
Yeah.
Yeah,
we were just talking about you.
Nice.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, give him a mic.
Here you go.
Yo, yo.
So what, how, oh.
Oh, we're gonna do all that.
All right, I know you guys
gotta go in a second too, so.
Yeah, in a little bit.
Yeah.
Uh, what
time is it?
Uh, it is, anybody?
You got time check anybody?
You, you can check on the
recording, see if that
works.
Uh, it is 6:01.
Oh, perfect.
Yeah, yeah.
6:01. Yep.
Easy.
I've been here this entire
time.
Yeah.
6:01, okay.
You guys are good.
All right, so what's gonna be different
today, Omari, than the, the French Quarter
Fest, uh, operation that we just saw?
More fire.
More fire, right.
More bricks are gonna be thrown.
All right.
Like my papa, um, my Papa Funk-
Yeah … my Uncle Art- And I'll- … you
feel me, he always said, "You gotta
throw bricks every time, and you gotta
keep throwing more and more and more."
So that's what's gonna happen every
time the Legacy Boys get on the stage.
All right.
More bricks will be thrown.
That's- More fire.
Beautiful.
I think so.
I mean, your, how about the, uh, interview
with your dad afterwards though, man?
He was just smiling from- Dude … huh?
He still smiling.
He is, yeah.
Yeah, he's still smiling, man.
Yeah, that, that- He's-
… that was his summary.
He said, "If anybody asks me about
today, just look at my face," right?
And he's- Right, right, right, right
since he had that going, right.
So, uh, did you guys pace yourselves
for, for Jazz Fest, or did you just
jump right in, and that's, we're
right in the middle of it now?
Tired?
Nothing.
You can try to pace yourself, but the
excitement is, it's gonna last the whole
time until it's, like, completely done,
until the last Sunday and everybody's
going home and all the gigs is wrapped up.
And I'm pretty sure we gotta keep going,
but as far as the Jazz Fest rush of
it all, the hype never goes down, man.
We're- Right … ain't no pacing.
You're tired for, tired for a couple
of seconds in the morning, and
then- And then the
music
starts … boom … and
then it's, that's it.
Man, this is what we do.
Yeah.
This is like, this is what you
live for here in New Orleans, man.
Yeah.
This is the best time of year.
Absolutely.
I mean, uh, it's, uh, we're just, we've
been here for two weeks as of tomorrow.
We have to go home on Wednesday, and
we're like, "I feel like I just got here."
I mean- Yeah … let's go, you know?
Man,
yeah.
Um, all right.
What about the, the Bayou
Rondes Vu, they call it today.
They're, uh, some of the, uh, proceeds are
benefiting, uh, benefiting the, uh, the
New Orleans, um, Music, what is it called?
The- The
Musicians
Clinic … Musicians Clinic, yeah.
You guys know much about that?
Uh, my parents used to go to that
all the time when we're, when
they were still living in town.
I'm just bad about keeping up with
my body, so I haven't made it over
there quite yet.
Yeah, it would be, uh, it, it would
behoove you perhaps to do that, right?
Yeah,
probably.
Absolutely.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Um, all right.
And w- who else is… So are we gonna
have the whole band though today too?
We're gonna have, uh-
Uh, for the, on the stage, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm not sure they're gonna
be here for the podcast.
No, no, no, no.
I'm, I'm talking about the stage.
Oh, yeah.
The podcast is just a little warmup.
Yeah, yeah.
A little warmup for you.
So what, what is the, what
happens after Jazz Fest?
Do you guys just… Is there a big
comedown from the whole thing, or do you
just keep going on to the next thing?
Yeah, I think, um, there's still a
trickle-down sort of thing of shows,
uh, you know, like after the fact.
I know, um, Bonerama, we have one
the day after Jazz Fest technically
ends at Chickie Wah Wah with Amari.
Yeah, so that's gonna
be a really good time.
And there's stuff like
that all around, you know?
But, uh, the summer here starts to
slow down a little bit, and then that's
when everybody kind of goes on tour.
That's cool.
Are you, um, are you playing regularly
with Bonerama now, or just when you can?
I
am.
Regularly?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Regularly.
Really, unless s- unless I have the
unfortunate situation of picking Bonerama
or my own band, Zeta- Cool … or, like,
my, you know, some projects of my own.
That's kind of a good problem to have.
It's
a good problem.
Right?
Yeah.
It's a good
problem.
My dad's very, very gracious about it.
Yeah.
You know, your dad mentioned this and,
uh, I think your dad said the same thing.
I haven't talked to your dad yet, but the,
um, you know, there's, they're big shoes
to fill, but I'm not certain the big shoes
are that necessarily of your individual
parents, but just the whole, uh, the
legacy which is in your namesake, but just
the, the, the music and the tradition.
Do you guys feel any pressure
in that or responsibility or
a little of both, or neither?
Sometimes it's a little bit of both,
but I think the pressure really comes
from Well, I'm gonna speak for myself.
It comes from myself.
You know what I mean?
Sometimes I put the
most pressure on myself.
It never comes from the mentors
or the guys that's, um, laying
the foundation down before us.
They're pretty much always just,
like, open-hearted, like, "Do
it." You feel what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So if it's any pressure, it
comes from just, I guess, a
musician's need to be perfect.
Right.
You know what I mean?
Which nobody is, but, you know.
And, and the, the, the tremendous
respect we have for the music.
Absolutely.
It's like all of us just feel that way, so
we're gonna a- it, it, it, it just boils
down to approaching it with the utmost
care and attention and respect, you know?
And that's, that's kind of what it
culminates in, which is a good thing.
'Cause we all know we've been
given the tools to do it, you
know, and we have confidence in
each other and ourselves, so…
That
would be the case whether or not your
parents were musicians or not here, right?
I mean, anybody that's playing.
It's, it's like their shoes, they're
still walking in their shoes, so-
Yeah
… our job is not to fill their shoes.
Our job is to wear our shoes.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Well, you guys are doing it well, man.
Yeah, you're right.
Thank you.
Doing it well.
All right.
Well, we're gonna let you go
because, uh, it's coming up, man.
It's coming up.
It's coming up.
Legacy Born.
Legacy Born.
Legacy Born, baby.
We'll be in there watching.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you, Dennis.
Appreciate you guys.
You just heard from Michael
Mullins about carrying the New
Orleans brass tradition forward.
Next up, we go back to
where that story started.
Listen to the full interview
with Michael's father, Mark
Mullins, founder of Bonerama.
Same city, same instrument, two
generations with the same mission.
Don't miss it, only in the green room.