Chris “Shaggy” Davis hails from Chicago, but for more than twenty years, he has made his living from traditional Louisiana outdoor cooking. He is the man behind the second annual NOLA Crawfish Festival during Jazz Fest on the daze between. Shaggy was kind enough to take five minutes to chat with our own B. Getz to fill us in on the cultural phenomenon of crawfish boils, the incredible Crawfish Fest lineup, and more!
L4LM: Thanks for a few of your busy minutes, Shaggy! So, year two for the NOLA Crawfish Festival! What are you most psyched up about for this year’s festival?
Shaggy: You know, just another year of a great Jazz Fest, the lineup at the Crawfish Festival, and, of course, the new partnership with Central City BBQ for our new space.
L4LM: I am looking forward to seeing the new space myself. You mentioned the lineup; I think it’s a beautiful blend of old and new. It’s a really New Orleans-centric lineup this year. I think the city is represented, like, three generations deep. Obviously, due to your networking and the people’s lives that you touched, can you talk a little bit about putting that together?
Shaggy: The New Orleans Crawfish Festival is New Orleans, and that is the only way it will be. I mean, that is the whole point. These people come from out of town, and they take over New Orleans and they are here to see New Orleans music. I believe if come from out of town, you want to see George Porter, you want to see Eric Lindell, you definitely want to see Ivan Neville. These are people that, you know, they are New Orleans, and, to me, that is most important. This way, the festival not only touches the people from here, but the people from here love it more, or as much.
Just being able to fill that void in the days between the two weekends of Jazz Fest is a great thing. I mean, I’ve been a New Orleanian for twenty-seven years and I mean I’ve watched Jazz Fest. My first Jazz Fest was very chill, you know? They used to have night shows at UNO Arena here, and it would be like the Allman Brothers playing one show at night and that was it. New Orleans Jazz Fest has just grown leaps and bounds, and all the stuff happening outside of the fairgrounds is just incredible. I’m just excited to have The NOLA Crawfish festival be part of that scene and offer up something for the people.
L4LM: Absolutely. I didn’t get to Jazz Fest until 2000. But I’ve seen the changes since then so I can’t imagine what the changes look like from where you sit. I wanted to talk ’bout the time old tradition of shucking and eating crawfish while listening to funky, soulful music. Can you give me a quick history lesson of crawfish boils with bands?
Shaggy: For me, seventeen years ago on the last Sunday of Jazz Fest; we started an event Jazz Fest Crawfish Bash, which still goes on today, but that’s when it all started. We started throwing crawfish boils outside the Fairgrounds, and we had live music, and it just grew and grew. I just started doing it more and more throughout the years. I realized I wanted to give the tourists and locals alike, you know, something special, and I believe that crawfish and music bring people together. That’s what it’s all about for me: bringing people together. I tell people when I am on my jobs, “No one is in a hurry in New Orleans.” People say, “It’s a lot of work to get through this crawfish,” and I say, “We got all the time in the world here, man. Take your time sifting through the crawfish.”  Sit back, stand up, talk to someone, get to know them, eat some crawfish, have a good time, and if there’s music playing in the background—kickass! When all that started, I started working at Bonnaroo the second year, and now I just do festivals all around the country, you know, Okeechobee, Peach Fest, a bunch of festivals up North. It’s so much.
L4LM: Yeah, I mean, I am from Philly, I live in California, and everywhere I go, the people know about Shaggy, the Crawfish King. You guys are getting around.
Shaggy: Yeah this year we are extra excited. We have a lot. We have teamed up with CID Entertainment. We are going Peach Fest, Electric Forest, Camp Bisco, Lock’n. We got a lot going on!
L4LM: Those are some heavy hitters, some of the biggest fests in the country. Funny side note: Dan (Berkowitz) the founder with CID, we went to high school together, so it’s a beautiful thing to see y’all working together. He and CID are like yourself, kind of a trendsetter and ahead of the curve, just like you and your team are.
Shaggy: Well, thank you. They are incredible at what they do, yes. We are excited about working with them!
L4LM: Last thing, without giving away your secrets or recipes, can you tell the people who don’t know why Shaggy is the King of crawfish?
Shaggy: Experience, a love for my work, lots of spice, citrus! And lots of personality and that’s not just for me. I want you to focus on my company: NOLA Crawfish King. Yeah, that’s it man. I’ve had my company for seventeen years, and, you know, we take pride in what we do. We are just happy to be from New Orleans and to be able to bring NO to the people, whether it’s here in New Orleans or Cali, New York, Florida, Oregon, whereever. That’s the deal. We bring Louisiana to you.
L4LM: Well the people appreciate it. I’ll be bringing my mom to the Crawfish Fest on that Wednesday.. This is my 15th year at Fest, her eighth, so hopefully we will bump into you and say hi. Thanks for filling us in, Shaggy!
On May 1-3, during the days between Jazz Fest weekends, the second annual NOLA Crawfish Festival will return to an exciting new home of Central City BBQ. Presented by NOLA Crawfish King and Live for Live Music, the three day event will bring together some of New Orleans’ best musicians, food, and music for a true New Orleans experience from top to bottom. With beer and crawfish included in every ticket purchase, an Ultimate Crawfish Cook-Off judged by a celebrity panel, and unique supergroups featuring talent from George Porter Jr., John Medeski, Eric Krasno, Luther Dickinson, Jon Cleary, Ivan Neville, and so many more, NOLA Crawfish Festival is an experience unlike any other. The full daily schedules have been released and can be seen here. Single day, three day, and VIP tickets are still available and can be purchased here.