“Mississippi & New Orleans,” the first video from Tokyo Tramps’ new album Fearless Heart is guitarist/vocalist Satoru Nakagawa’s tribute to NOLA. Recorded live in Japan during the band’s recent return visit (Nakagawa and bassist/vocalist Yukiko Fujii go back every year for a few weeks of r&r and touring), the song is the perfect example of what makes their new album unique in their catalog.
“This song is my love letter to New Orleans,” Nakagawa notes. “It’s where I lived when I first moved to the States, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.” The song shape-shifts across a soulful, swampy, blues-rock landscape that echoes the ethos of the musical city. Although they’ve found themselves labeled a blues band more often than not, Tokyo Tramps have always seen things a bit differently, and Fearless Heart is a defining moment in their songwriting and musicianship.
“We love the blues. It’s our foundation. The blues community embraced us, and that’s where we built our core audience, but I’ve always wanted us to be the almost traditional definition of a rock and roll band; we’re blues based, but we write original material that’s outside that box.”
