music · Sep 24, 2026 · DAILY TRANSMISSION
Tonight, New Orleans Lets the Rumble Drive the Mothership
NOLAxNOLA opens with The Rumble playing P-Funk at Tipitina’s, where Black Masking Indian rhythm meets a very large groove.
Hear that drum before you see anything
Before a Black Masking Indian procession turns the corner on Mardi Gras morning, you may hear the rumble first. It is a driving backline: drums and rhythm pushing forward like the street itself has a heartbeat.
That sound gave The Rumble its name. Tonight, September 24, the New Orleans band brings it to Tipitina’s for “The Rumble Plays P-Funk,” the opening show of NOLAxNOLA.
P-Funk means the wild, psychedelic funk linked to George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic universe. Think huge grooves, strange characters, costumes, and songs that refuse to leave the dance floor quietly.
A carnival backline meets the Mothership
The Rumble is led by Big Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Young Eagles. A Big Chief is a leading figure in Black Masking Indian culture, a New Orleans tradition of hand-beaded suits, music, movement, and neighborhood processions.
Black New Orleanians developed the practice in the 19th century, amid exclusion from white Mardi Gras organizations. Its history also reflects relationships between ancestral enslaved Africans and Native Americans.
Boudreaux Jr. is the son of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, known for the Wild Magnolias and Mardi Gras Indian funk. The younger Boudreaux’s band does not freeze that inheritance behind glass. The Rumble mixes Black Masking songs and percussion with brass-band force, jazz, gospel, funk, and hip-hop.
This is not the local opener slot
At 8 p.m., with doors at 7, The Rumble takes on the night’s central musical language. Drummer and singer Jamison Ross, guitarist Ian Neville, additional guests, and DJ Soul Sister join the bill.
That setup is the whole juicy point. The Rumble is not there to offer a quick spoonful of “local flavor” before somebody else gets to have the fun.
Its core lineup includes Boudreaux Jr. on vocals, Aurélien Barnes on trumpet and percussion, and José Maize Jr. on trombone, alongside TJ Norris, Ari Teitel, Andriu Yanovski, and Trenton O’Neal. Formed in 2021, the group has already received two Grammy nominations for Best Regional Roots Album.
Tipitina’s knows a thing or two about a beat
Tipitina’s is dedicated to preserving the memory of Professor Longhair, the pianist whose rolling rhythms remain part of New Orleans’ musical wiring. So this is a fitting room for a show about lineage that keeps mutating.
P-Funk and Black Masking Indian music share a useful attitude toward rhythm. The beat is not wallpaper. It gathers people, makes room for personality, and tells bodies to quit standing around like they are waiting for a bus.
Ian Neville also brings a direct thread from the city’s great funk family. Put that alongside Ross, DJ Soul Sister, horns, percussion, and a P-Funk songbook, and the club could get gloriously crowded with rhythm.
Eleven days, fifty rooms, no single center
NOLAxNOLA runs through October 4 with more than 300 performances in 50 venues. That is not one fenced field with a giant logo and overpriced sunscreen. It is a citywide music crawl with free NOLAxNoCover shows, talks, meet-and-greets, after-parties, and nightly choices that can wreck a planner’s sleep schedule.
Opening night alone stretches from a John Coltrane Day program at the New Orleans Jazz Museum to swing, K-pop, reggae, Cajun strings, brass bands, blues, and jazz. Later bills include Cyril Neville playing Grateful Dead material with Omari Neville and The Fuel, Rebirth Brass Band with Mardi Gras Indians, and an Irma Thomas and Preservation Hall Jazz Band matinee.
But tonight starts with the cleanest possible statement: a band named for a procession’s pulse playing P-Funk at Tipitina’s. Follow the drums. The corner is about to turn.
SOURCES FROM THIS TRANSMISSION
NOLAxNOLA Kickoff Show : The Rumble Plays P-Funk with Special Guests Jamison Ross, Ian Neville & More! + DJ Soul Sister | WWOZ New Orleans 90.7 FM ↗Bio · The Rumble ↗New Orleans & Company, New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Foundation and Partners Present NOLAxNOLA ↗Livewire Music Calendar® | WWOZ New Orleans 90.7 FM ↗Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans: History & Traditions ↗NOLAxNOLA ↗