Born in New Orleans, Aaron Neville and his family are of the most influential NOLA musicians of our time. Having been raised and surrounded by the best of the best, Aaron Neville shares his newest song “Stompin’ Ground,” which he describes as a folklore about the “characters who crossed [his] paths.” Ahead of his new album Apache, which comes out July 15, he shares this new single which was produced by Lettuce/Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno, and also features Lettuce’s Adam Deitch, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, and Gregg Allman keyboardist Peter Levin.
A poet at heart, the 75-year-old legend explains, “That’s all about me growing up in New Orleans and a lot of the people that I ran across in my life.” He continues, “You get to the part where I’m calling out names; I start out with Moleface and Melvin; I’m Moleface, and Melvin was my friend. We got tight when we were about five years old. And the line about hanging out at the Dew Drop Inn all night long with Mac Rebennack — that’s Dr. John — it’s just characters who crossed my paths. I’ve got my brothers in there, my uncle John, the [Wild Tchoupitoulas’] Big Chief Jolly. It’s like a testimony, that song.”
Shmeeans spoke about the track as well, saying, “I was lucky enough to play guitar on almost every track on this incredible record. However, on this track, I’m on Bass!! So excited that this album produced by Eric Krasno featuring Adam Deitch and Peter Levin, the writing of Dave Gutter for the legendary Aaron Neville, is about to come out.”
You can read the full interview exclusively on Billboard, and listen to “Stompin’ Ground” below: