Alan Ball’s ability to present the illusion that vampires do exist is the result of painstaking details going into creating “True Blood”. From the set design, special effects and makeup to the selection and style of music performed on the show, the emphasis is on staying true to the Louisiana setting. In the area of music Alan Ball has focused on featuring local Louisiana bands from the region which is referred to as Zydeco.
Zydeco is a form of America folk music that evolved in southwest Louisianan in the early 20th century form forms of Louisiana Creole music. It is a fast tempo style of music with the button or piano accordion and washboard (or rub-board) being the signature instruments. Over time Zydeco evolved to include elements of waltzes, shuffles, two-step, blues and rock and roll. Today more genres of music are included into Zydeco such as R&B, soul, hip-hop, reggae to name a few. One of the Zydeco artists that was featured in “True Blood” is Curley Taylor who had the opportunity to speak about his recent performance on the show with Eric Dresden from cm-life.com
Curley Taylor is the lead vocalist and accordion player for his band called “Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble.” Mr. Taylor states in the interview that he has had music flowing through him from day one as a result of growing up surrounded by music and toured in his early years with his father’s band, “Jude Taylor and the Burning Flames”. Mr. Taylor refers to his father’s style of Zydeco as having more Blues qualities in it while his band still has a bluesy style to it but with more R&B mixed into it. Mr. Taylor states a lot of people are unfamiliar with this style of music and he is enjoying introducing it to them. He states:
“I love just traveling and exposing the music to people, watching people enjoy themselves. After it’s over I get to say to myself, ‘Whoa, I made those people have a good time,'” he said. “Then everybody goes, ‘What is this you’re playing? What is this kind of music? … To me I just want it to be a good introduction to the music and for them to look forward to seeing me again.”
With Mr. Taylor’s appearance on “True Blood” and the show’s focus an presenting authentic Louisiana music, Zydeco is starting to attract attention and popularity across North America and the world. Mr. Taylor mentioned that he went to a festival in Holland and found out that there are Zydeco bands in Japan, Turkey and in many places. If you don’t remember seeing Curley Taylor, he was playing the accordion and singing in the band with C.C. Adcock during the party.
If you want to learn more about Curley Taylor and his band go to his official website at:
http://www.curleytaylor.com/index.html
You can also visit Curley Taylor on myspace where you can listen to his music. My particular favourite is “I Got Sumthn 4 U”:
http://www.myspace.com/curleytaylorandzydecotrouble
SOURCE:
Eric Dresden – cm-life.com
Wikipedia
(Photo credit: http://www.curleytaylor.com)
Australian newspapers are starting to inform their readers about the upcoming Australian premiere of Alan Ball’s very successful HBO TV series “True Blood” which will broadcast on the Showcase channel starting on Tuesday, February 10, 2009. This particular article comes from David Knox of SX and describes for the Australian audience the story line and premise of “True Blood”. Mr. Knox describes in detail the concept of vampires coming out into mainstream society as a result of Japanese scientists developing synthetic blood which can quell their thirst and need to hunt humans. He also discusses the main characters in the show and their particular problems and what makes them so interesting. Here is an excerpt of Mr. Knox’s commentary with an assessment of fellow Aussie Ryan Kwanten:
One of the most foul-mouthed individuals on a??True Blooda?? is Tara T
After winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Drama, Anna Paquin still seemed in shock and in awe at winning the award. During the HBO After Party Mark Steines from ET had the opportunity to catch up with Anna Paquin and the rest of the cast of “True Blood” and talk to her about her win and ask her where she plans to hide her award. Anna stated that she does not plan to hide it and her co-star joked around stating that it was going to be in every scene. It was wonderful to hear Anna praise the show and the hard work that her fellow cast members contribute to the show.

