Backatown

Overview

Backatown represents Andrews's national and major label debut. The tracks "In the 6th", "Hurricane Season" and "Backatown" pay homage to the culture and neighborhoods of New Orleans, Andrews hometown. He refers to his diverse musical style as 'supafunkrock'.

The album was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album but lost to the Stanley Clarke album The Stanley Clarke Band. The other nominees were Never Can Say Goodbye by Joey DeFrancesco, Now Is the Time by Jeff Lorber, and To the One by John McLaughlin.

The band

Andrews is supported by his band Orleans Avenue; bassist Mike Ballard, guitarist Pete Murano, saxophonist Dan Oestreicher, drummer Joey Peebles, and percussionist Dwayne Williams. Andrews plays both trombone and trumpet and provides lead vocals on the five tracks with lyrics.

Guest musicians also contribute to the album's sound. Lenny Kravitz, who Andrews once apprenticed under as a member of his backing band, plays guitar and sings backup on "Something Beautiful". Marc Broussard contributes backing vocals on "Right to Complain". Allen Toussaint plays piano on the only cover on the album, a reworking of his own "On Your Way Down".

Reception

Nate Chinen quipped in The New York Times that the album is "more polished and less thrilling than Trombone Shorty’s live shows" but goes on to call it "firm in its purpose with swagger to spare". He closed his review with "It’s a sound born of New Orleans, unmistakably, and if it heralds an ambitious ascent, it also attests to an unbroken spirit."

Noting the wide appeal of Backatown, Carla Meyer of The Sacramento Bee wrote that it "provides comfort for fans of jazz, rock, pop, funk and however you want to classify James Bond theme music". Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post compared Andrews's vocals to Stevie Wonder and noted that the album has "second-line rhythm that could only come from New Orleans".

Thom Jurek of Allmusic called the music "aural gumbo" and the album a "fingerpopping, butt-shakin' mix set" that "crackles and burns with an unburdened, unfettered, passionate live feel". He went on to call it "everything popular American music should be". Will Hermes of Rolling Stone said the album is "both deeply rooted and culturally omnivorous" and referred to Andrews as "a Katrina survivor trying to hold on to the old while building the new".

Track listing

1. "Hurricane Season" (Troy Andrews) 3:20
2. "On Your Way Down" (Allen Toussaint) 3:36
3. "Quiet as Kept" (Andrews) 3:05
4. "Something Beautiful" (Andrews, Ryan Montbleau) 3:42
5. "Backatown" (Andrews) 2:47
6. "Right to Complain" (Andrews, PJ Morton) 2:56
7. "Neph" (Andrews) 3:02
8. "Suburbia" (Andrews, Mike Ballard, Pete Murano, Joey Peebles) 3:19
9. "In the 6th" (Andrews, Dan Oestreicher) 3:17
10. "One Night Only (The March)" (Andrews, Montbleau) 2:49
11. "Where Y' At" (Andrews, Clarence Slaughter) 2:59
12. "Fallin'" (Andrews, Morton) 3:46
13. "The Cure" (Andrews, Ballard, Murano) 3:39
14. "928 Horn Jam" (Andrews, Oestreicher, Slaughter, Dwayne Williams) 0:55