So what's the story?

Creole String Beans is a swinging sextet playing New Orleans rock ’n roll from the glory days of J&M Studios when local R&B artists dominated the charts. They will unearth obscure instrumentals like Edgar Blanchard’s “Blues Cha Cha” then whip up the dancers with the crazy swamp-ska of an original like “Boom Boom”.

Rob Savoy (bass/vocals) and Rick Olivier (guitar/vocals) front the band with Brian Rini (keyboards/vocals) and Mike Sipos (drums/vocals) rounding out the rhythm section. The powerhouse “Terrytown Horns” add punch and brass with Travis Blotsky on tenor, and Derek Huston on baritone sax. The veteran outfit boasts well over a century of combined musical experience.

With Olivier and Savoy’s Acadiana roots the Creole String Beans dive deep into the world of “swamp pop”, the triplet-heavy sound popular across Southwest Louisiana. Cookie and the Cupcakes, Doug Sahm, and Tommy McLain songs pepper their dance-oriented set lists.

But the ‘Beans also have a knack for writing clever originals in the local idiom. Brian Rini’s “Sally Put A Spell On Me” is a funky tale of a voodoo beauty with other-worldly charms and his “Beautiful Thing” wouldn’t be out of place on a Stax soul ballad compilation. Olivier’s “St. Gabriel” is a swamp pop stomper about love and redemption and his “Funky Spillway” invents a new zydeco dance for the shrimp boot crowd. A high-water mark for the band was having Allen Toussaint join them onstage for their fiery rendering of Ernie K-Doe’s “Here Come The Girls”, a typical rocking choice for the group. Awards include Offbeat Magazine’s Roots Rock Album of the Year for their 2011 release “Shrimp Boots and Vintage Suits”.