Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & the Wild Magnolias – Chip Off the Old Block (Vinyl LP)

Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr. is an award-winning performer, musician, and cultural educator whose work preserves and promotes the storied heritage of Mardi Gras Indians, a distinctly New Orleans tradition. Together with his band The Wild Magnolias, Dollis combines reimaginings of classic songs – including Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle” – with contemporary originals on his newest album, Chip Off the Old Block, on Strong Place Music (home of GRAMMY winning Take Me to the River: New Orleans) Merging the West African rhythms, funk, and jazz elements of Mardi Gras Indian music with the blues & soul of Memphis, the album features all-star musicians including Archie “Hubbie” Turner, Rev. Charles Hodges and Leroy Hodges of the iconic soul “house” band, the Hi Rhythm Section; and Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph of Galactic and Tank and the Bangas on guest lead vocals.

Also known as Black Masking Indians, Mardi Gras Indians are culture bearers who are integral parts of indigenous and native Black New Orleans history and steeped in distinct musical roots, carnival revelry, intricate hand sewn beaded and feathered suits, and generations of oral history . As Big Chief of the Mardi Gras Indian tribe The Wild Magnolias, Dollis, Jr. follows in the footsteps of his father Big Chief Bo Dollis, Sr.,  a progenitor of the Mardi Gras Indian funk sound. Dollis, Jr. began masking, or performing Mardi Gras Indian traditions with The Wild Magnolias, at age 10. In the decades since, he has led The Wild Magnolias on albums including A New Kind of Funk (2013) and My Name is Bo (2021). Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr. and The Wild Magnolias have performed on global stages stretching from Australia and Japan to England and Jamaica. In the U.S., they have appeared at the Summer Olympics and the White House. In 2023, they received the Jazz Award at the prestigious Ascona Jazz Festival. My Name is Bo, their most recent collaborative project, was named one of the top ten best Louisiana music albums by OffBeat Magazine. They have collaborated and shared stages with GRAMMY-winning icons like Dr. John, Cyril Neville and Leo Nocentelli, as well as Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Master P, Widespread Panic, and many many more.

Black Masking Indian culture is threatened by gentrification in New Orleans, forcing many of the beloved cultural performers to leave the neighborhoods in which their traditions were born due to rising costs of rent. Rising sea levels and soaring temperatures are further threatening the stability of the streets and communities in which Mardi Gras Indians parade and perform, an issue Dollis, Jr. is deeply invested in.