Rougarou Brass Band at Rudy’s Jazz Room
Hope you didn’t give up groovin’ for Lent, because Rougarou Brass Band is holding down a residency at Rudy’s Jazz Room on the first and third Thursdays of the month for the foreseeable future. The brainchild of two Louisiana natives, bassist Brook Sutton (who’s also owner of recording space The Studio Nashville) and piano player Chris Walters, Rougarou is rounded out with a murderers’ row of “damn, it’s that dude”-type dudes. That’d be drummer Chris Brown, guitarist Jérôme Degey, trombonist Josh Scalf, trumpeter Andrew Carney and sax man Chris West. The Scene caught up with Sutton ahead of the March 5 show.
What are these gigs like? It seems like a pretty fun idea.
I mean, I’m from New Orleans, so I’ve always kind of had a love for brass bands, and Rebirth and Preservation Hall. These things are part of my history — I love that music so much. And it kind of came about in talking with the piano player, Chris Walters. He’s also from New Orleans.
We just got talking about it, and we had a couple of people call a few times and say, “Hey, we need a second line,” or this or that. I was like, “Man, we should just put a band together.” And that’s what we did. So it’s a lot of fun. It’s a seven-piece band. There’s three horns up front, there’s sax, trombone and trumpet. We have a full rhythm section: bass, drums, guitar and piano. I kind of triple on upright, electric bass and sousaphone.
Oh, fun!
It’s a blast. I played [sousaphone] when I was in high school. I was like, “Man, I want to do that some more.” So I have one here at the studio, and occasionally we’ll track it or something. But to have a reason to take it out every other week has been a lot of fun.
That’s pretty special. You don’t get to bring the sousaphone out very often.
No, not in Nashville. There’s just not that many calls for it, but it’s fun and I’m having a great time doing it, and it’s fun to switch it up.
What’s the audience reaction like?
They love it. They absolutely love it. I mean, we’ve had some really great shows over at Rudy’s. Rudy’s has been kind of home for us. … We’d done their Mardi Gras party every year. And I finally talked to Adam Charney, who’s the owner, [who] was like, “Man, we really should try to do something.”
It took a little while to get it started. We started it once a month on the first Thursday of the month. And then we decided in 2026, we’d open it up to the first Thursday and third Thursday of the month. And the reaction has been great. And it’s hard to support a seven-piece band and a club that size, but we’ve been able to do it, and it’s been pretty cool.
What does it feel like performing with a group that size in that space?
It’s amazing. It’s amazing because the sound can be so big — but what’s amazing is the players that are in the band. They’re incredible musicians and very dynamic, and that’s what’s a lot of fun when you have seven pieces that can get really, really strong. Then at other times they can just get really, really quiet and moody. There’s a lot of flexibility in the band, and it can be a party, or it can be really introspective, or it can be real jazzy, or real traditional.
How do you put together your repertoire? What are you thinking about beforehand, and what are you thinking about in the moment?
We kind of gravitate towards things that are kind of funky and groovy and swinging. It starts there. There’s just a love for the music and wanting it to feel a certain way and explore ideas within it. We try to pick repertoire that is familiar enough, but also challenging enough for us to create a moment for ourselves on the stage.
We’re still keeping this very much alive in the improvisational element. We’re always looking for material that allows us to be free enough to do that. Luckily, it’s kind of in the jazz and funk idioms that we’ve been able to do that.
What do you think New Orleans music offers a musician that other forms of music don’t?
There’s just a spirit about New Orleans music that I think gives musicians a certain freedom to be themselves. And for me, New Orleans music has always just been such a community effort. I also think it’s very inclusive for the audience and the people participating. It’s always an invitation to come up and dance and move and express yourself, sing along.
