John Moore — Deacon John — was born June 23, 1941, in New Orleans' 8th Ward, one of thirteen children in a musical family, and started out singing in his church choir. After buying a pawn-shop guitar, he fell under the spell of local players like Roy Montrell and George Davis. In 1960 he re-formed a band called the Ivories as Deacon John & the Ivories, and they became a house band at the Dew Drop Inn. The “Deacon” came from Roy Brown's 1947 hit “Good Rockin' Tonight,” which name-checks a “Deacon Jones.”
His guitar is on hundreds of the New Orleans recordings that made R&B and rock & roll in the late '50s and early '60s: Irma Thomas's “Ruler of My Heart,” Aaron Neville's “Tell It Like It Is,” Robert Parker's “Barefootin',” Ernie K-Doe's “Mother-in-Law,” Chris Kenner's “Land of 1,000 Dances,” Lee Dorsey's “Working in the Coal Mine” — plus sessions for Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino, Dr. John, and Little Richard. “I played on about 90 percent of everything recorded for Minit Records,” he told All About Jazz.
The Ivories were a proving ground: Charles, Cyril, and Art Neville, Smokey Johnson, Zigaboo Modeliste, and James Booker all passed through. Deacon John played the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970 and is the only act credited with playing every one since. He entered the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 2000, released the CD/DVD Deacon John's Jump Blues in 2003, became the first African American president of the New Orleans musicians' union local in 2006, and entered the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
