The New Orleans Moonshiners formed in 2008 when banjoist and bandleader Chris Edmunds, frustrated by a lack of steady work, decided to start his own band. He and a group of young musicians began playing on the streets of the French Quarter, and were soon invited inside by the legendary Donna’s Bar and Grill. They became fixtures at Frenchmen Street venues including the Spotted Cat, and their Thursday night residency gave the band a home and an audience that grew quickly.
What distinguished the Moonshiners from a purely revivalist outfit was a genuine compositional ambition. Rather than simply reprising the canon, Edmunds and his bandmates wrote original songs in the traditional style — new tunes that felt like they could have been old tunes, but weren’t. Their 2010 album I’m Comin’ Home featured the gifted saxophonist Aurora Nealand and trumpeter Gordon Au alongside Teppei Tada’s rich clarinet. Their 2011 follow-up, Frenchmen St. Parade, was voted Best Traditional Jazz Album of the Year by OffBeat Magazine readers.
