Fiddler Amanda Shaw brings new music to French Quarter Fest | Music | Gambit Weekly

Soon after Amanda Shaw released her 2020 album, “Joie,” where the Louisiana fiddler and vocalist put an energetic, modern spin on Cajun classics, a musician friend in Nashville introduced her to producer and Dolly Parton collaborator Kent Wells.

It was a “full circle moment” for her, Shaw says. Parton has long been a musical hero for Shaw, and as “a nerdy kid,” Shaw would pore over the liner notes of her Parton CDs.

“I loved studying who produced what and who the writers were,” she says. “We can love an artist all we want, but it really does take a team to make an artist. And I remember reading Kent’s name on the Dolly albums I had.”

The two quickly hit it off, Shaw says, and she found that Wells had a love for Louisiana music and culture. So when Shaw began working on recording a new album, she turned to Wells to produce what would become “Rhythm of My Roots.”

Shaw’s newest album will be released on May 15, but French Quarter Fest attendees will hear many of those new songs during her Thursday set. She plays 5-6:10 p.m. on the Willow Dispensary Stage.

Find Amanda Shaw’s music: amandashaw.com, Spotify, Apple Music

“This industry can be so unforgiving in a lot of ways. There are so many stories of people being told, ‘Oh yeah, you’re great. We just have to change everything about who you are,’” Shaw says. “I knew that was a possibility, but instead not only did [Wells] not do that, but he appreciated the musical culture that I come from and was game to participate and work with me to elevate where I was already at.”

Shaw grew up on the Northshore, learned to play Cajun fiddle as a child and has been a professional musician since her early teens. On the 10-track “Rhythm of My Roots,” she looked to honor her musical heritage while also adding pop, rock and a lot of energy.

Spending more time in Nashville and working in Wells’ studio there pushed Shaw to want to hug Louisiana sounds a little tighter, she says. “Leaving here made me more inspired about being from here,” Shaw says. Her main residence remains in New Orleans, Shaw says, but she’s recently been splitting time with Nashville.

Still, working with Wells in the capital of the country music industry, also helped “link traditional Cajun music with modern elements for something that’s decidedly Americana,” Shaw has said previously.

“Rhythm of My Roots” opens with the title track, an up-tempo track about Louisiana hospitality featuring Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and accordionist Anthony Dopsie. Black Masking Indian funk band Cha Wa is featured on the song “Pothole Mouth,” and the album includes more writing contributions from Jon Cleary and Cowboy Mouth’s Fred LeBlanc.

Anyone who went to LSU or has watched a Tigers football game in the last 20 years knows “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” which has been recorded by a few people but is best known as a Garth Brooks hit. On “Rhythm of My Roots,” Shaw worked with Brooks’ fiddle player Jimmy Mattingly to reinterpret the song from the perspective of the Baton Rouge woman taking phone calls from her lover on the road.

On “Before Katrina,” Shaw weaves together the impact of Hurricane Katrina with a story of a relationship ruined by infidelity. And Shaw leaves aside her fiddle for “Crescent City Connection,” a heavier, ’80s-inspired rock song.

The album “just sums up this feeling of growing up here, having such a great community, and I think the music community is no exception,” Shaw says. “And I think that’s the biggest reflection of this [album].”