Native South Louisiana drummer Al Lauro traveled to Big Pine Key, Florida in 1980 to play with Outlaw Country musician David Allan Coe, who quickly dubbed him Big Al, despite his vertically challenged stature. Al and the band lived in Coe’s rehearsal warehouse between Ernest Hemmingway’s favorite bar, “Sloppy Joe’s” and Shorty’s diner. Al became friends with the local shrimpers and their bevy of ladies, who let him shower on their boat.
After Big Pine Key, Coe decided to move the band to Nashville. Stopping at a truck stop in Dickson, Tennessee, a waitress said her daddy had a cave for sale in a local park, so Coe bought the park and the cave, and made a concert venue and David Allan Coe Museum at Ruskin Cave Park. The band lived in a house on the property and David lived in the cave, and they were featured in US Magazine for their cultish lifestyle.
At this point Al and fellow band members Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, Govt Mule) and Rick Gergen (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) started a side project called the Unknown Blues Band.
David produced a free street concert in Key West featuring Gregg Allman, and Al and the band backed him up on memorable versions of “Stormy Monday,” “Midnight Rider,” and “One Way Out.” When David was recording the album Castles in the Sand for CBS Records in Nashville, he told the band that Dickey Betts was going to play on a track. Al and the bass player didn’t believe it, so they didn’t hang around to find out, but Warren stayed because he was scheduled to play that day. As it turns out, Betts and Gregg both showed up at the studio, and they were really impressed with Warren’s playing. Dickey asked Warren to play on the solo album he was currently recording, and when Greg and Dickey decided to put the Allman Brothers Band back together, they asked Warren to join the band.
Al kept the Unknown Blues Band going for a while with a very tall guitarist named Big Mike Griffith, but that eventually fell apart, and Al took a gig with popular harmonica player Roguie Ray LaMontagne – (this was well before Roguie’s son Ray Lamontagne became more famous than any of them.) Due to personal legal issues, Roguie Ray did not want to name the band after himself, and he suggested the name “Big Al and the Heavyweights.” The first Big Al and the Heavyweights record, That Ain’t Nice, was released in 1996 on Rollin and Tumblin Records.
Big Al has been honing his songwriting chops since 1990. Sometimes working with producer Fred James of Appaloosa Records, Al wrote songs for artists including Johnny Jones, Earl Gaines, and. Charles “Dynamite” Walker. Al’s songs caught the ear of Alligator Records boss Bruce Iglauer, who licensed Al’s “Eat More Crawfish” for C.J. Chenier first Alligator release and agreed to produce the Heavyweight’s next album, Nothin’ But Good Lovin’.
Al and the Heavyweights have been on the road ever since, undaunted by the usual perils, like the time they blew a turbo on the bus and had to spend three days in a Lumberton, NC junkyard… Or the time they got accosted by a crazed individual in Washington DC as they were sleeping on the bus across from the famed club “Madam’s Organ.” This episode involved a smashed bus window, a bit of blood, and some intervention by the local constabulary. Regardless, they remain undeterred.
The Heavyweights has featured an amazing revolving cast of musicians, including — harmonica players: Roguie Ray LaMontagne, Jason Ricci, George Heard (a/k/a Harmonica Red), Destin Thibodeaux, and (currently) Dangerous Dale Robertson; guitar player/singers: Mike Holloway, Tim Wagner, Elvin Killer Bee, James Bass, Lance Younger, Marcelles Farris, and (currently and for the past 5 years) Marcel Anton; (Luther Dickinson and Warren Haynes each guested on a track, and Anders Osbourne produced and played on “Sunshine on Me”); bass players: Dr. Dave, Kevin Wilson, David Robertson, Lenny Jornes, Dean Galatas, Mark Parsons, and (currently) Dennis Cedeno; and their one, irreplaceable keyboard player, Wayne Lors, who played with the band for 15 years until his untimely passing in 2023.
Over the ensuing years Big Al and the Heavyweights kept releasing records, all favoring roots music and cajun blues rock with a distinct Louisiana flavor. They partnered with the VizzTone label group in 2022 for Love One Another, and are following that up with their eighth album, Blues Power.
While all the band members are shown at their best, this album is a particularly good showcase for guitarist/vocalist extraordinaire Marcel Anton: a vocalist, composer, guitarist, percussionist, actor, teacher, mystic and poet of Native American and New Orleans Creole descent.
The first single, “If,” is a blues ballad that pulses with the ache of heartbreak. Sung by Anton in the rich, haunting tradition of bayou soul, his commanding baritone weaves a sorrowful tale of love lost. As the song unfolds, his voice rises into a seamless falsetto that calls to mind the greats of the Louisiana blues scene. The intensity swells after a stirring bridge and a dramatic pause, leading into the final chorus where Anton’s voice cuts through the tension: “If you’re gonna let me down, don’t make it easy.”
Big Al takes his job as spiritual leader of the band seriously, as he appreciates where they are and reflects on where they’re going:
“I never forgot where I came from; there would be no Big Al & the Heavyweights without Roguie Ray. Everything is so different all the time. Players change but the spirit of the band and where it all came from remains the same. It’s good to shake things up now and then, people with new musical tastes. We can never replace Wayne, but harmonica player Dangerous Dale gives it a different energy, and bass player Dennis cuts a deep and solid groove. And Marcel is a positive, uplifting force for Big Al, bringing a uniquely positive energy. And going from here, let’s just keep building a wider audience.”
