It’s official! We will be performing in the Kid’s Tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 5, 2024! The time will be announced later. Get your tickets now, we will be happy to see you!
Feeling the Festival Vibe! Newsletter
What, when, and where? I hope to see you there!
Pack up the kiddos and boogie on over to the Kids Tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Sunday, April 30, 2023 between 2:15-3:00 for some Louisiana tunes for children!
Joining me again this year is three-time Grammy winner (and hubby) Scott Billington! There will be plenty of fan favorites and new songs in this toe-tapping, two-stepping féte for the whole family.
I mentioned in my last newsletter that I have a new book coming out this fall with illustrator Heather Stanley through Pelican Publishing, and as promised, I am revealing the cover to you, my subscribers, first! Heather and I have two other books together (Petit Pierre and the Floating Marsh and Mademoiselle Grands Doigts), and in this book, she really captured the boldness and wildness of my Cajun tall tale My Parrain is the Loup Garou.
CDs Have Arrived!
The physical CDs for my Jumpin' Jitters, It's Halloween album, of slightly spooky, mostly silly holiday songs for children, have finally arrived!
"Johnette Downing is a New Orleans treasure, and Jumping Jitters shows why she is so beloved - a super fun, spooky fais-do-do that kids and adults will enjoy! And if you're anything like me, you'll want to listen to it year-round!"
—DJ LizE, The Kid's Show, WTUL New Orleans 91.5fm
Upcoming events
April 30 at 2:15-3:00, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Kids Tent, New Orleans Fairgrounds
May 4 at 11:00-11:45, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, 916 N. Peters, French Market
May 22-26, Arts Learning for Massachusetts, School Concert Tour
June 1 at 11:00-11:45, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, 916 N. Peters, French Market
June 3 at 2:00-4:00, Book signing, Barnes & Noble Metairie, Veterans Blvd., Metairie, LA
June 6-8, at 10:00 and 2:00, Livingston Parish Libraries, LA
June 16 at 10:00 and 2:00, LaSalle Parish Libraries, LA
June 21 at 10:00 and 2:00, St. James Parish Libraries, LA
July 6 at 11:00-11:45, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, 916 N. Peters, French Market
July 7-8 at 10:00 and 2:00, Ascension Parish Libraries, LA
July 12 at 6:30-7:15 PM, Hamilton-Wenham Library, Hamilton, MA
August 4 at 9:45-10:30, Nantucket Atheneum, Garden, Nantucket, MA
I was grocery shopping yesterday when a young man came up to me and asked if I was Johnette Downing. His mother, Ms. Fontenot, was a client who hired me for decades to perform for her summer camp in New Orleans. The young man said he remembered being in the audience of my concerts when he was a young camper there. He then told me that I had just performed at HIS son's school. Ms. Fontenot, her son, and her grandson may have no idea how much it means to me to know that I was part of three generations of their lovely family in some small way.
Thank you all for allowing me to experience this one precious life with you and your families. - Johnette
Spring Festivals Bloom!
Spring Festivals Bloom!
Spring is nearly here and it’s time to shake a tail feather at upcoming festivals!
Spring Public Concert Dates
• March 2 at 11:00, Concert, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, Dutch Alley, French Market
• March 11 at TBA - Concert and Book Signing, New Orleans Book Festival, Tulane University
• April 6 at 11:00, Concert, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, Dutch Alley, French Market
• April 16 at 12:15, Concert, French Quarter Festival, National Park Service Stage, French Quarter, New Orleans
• April 30 at TBA, Concert, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Kids Stage, New Orleans Fairgrounds
May
• May 4 at 11:00, Concert, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, Dutch Alley, French Market
New Book This Fall!
I am howling with happiness to announce that I have a new picture book coming out this fall titled My Parrain is the Loup Garou! The book is illustrated by Heather Stanley (we have three books together now), and published by Pelican Publishing.
This familial love story between a child and his godfather is my first original Cajun tall tale, and it is peppered with exaggerated colloquial vernacular to create humor and warmth especially when read aloud. Like children on the playground, the child boasts to the reader about his Parrain’s superhuman strength and wolf-like qualities as proof that the godfather is in fact the legendary mythical creature, the Loup Garou. As playmates, the child and the Parrain set out on magical adventures, perhaps too good to be true.
The vivid colors and bold brush strokes in Heather Stanley’s illustrations set a swampy tone and blur the lines between fact and fantasy. This lighthearted twist—to the often dark oral traditions of the Cajun werewolf—is sure to make children laugh and hopefully wildly dream.
Book cover reveal to follow!
Photo: Illustrator Heather Stanley and I sitting on an oil rig exhibit at the Audubon Zoo for some silly reason I am sure.
New Paperback!
My Down in Louisiana book, illustrated by Deborah Ousley Kadair Thomas, is now available in a paperback edition! This “singable” counting book highlights Louisiana animals and their habitats. The song is also available to download in my website digital music Store!
Music News
My Jumpin’ Jitters, It’s Halloween album was released digitally on streaming platforms in October, 2022, and, after several holiday delays, it is now at the manufacturer to be released as a physical CD this spring. The pre-orders will be shipped as soon as they arrive. The album contains fourteen original and traditional slightly spooky, mostly silly holiday songs.
For some reason, I have always been good at finding four leaf clovers. I have dozens of them tucked away in my haiku notebooks because I typically carry a haiku notebook wherever I go. The trick is to look for the odd pattern in the patch, which in this case is the even number four! Four is the odd one out of the many threes. This spring, I hope you take time to enjoy the flowers, sink your toes into the grass, and be grateful that you are here to witness this one beautiful life. - Johnette
“A flower blooms for its own joy.” - Oscar Wilde
Jazzing it Up a Bit at Jazz Fest!
We will be jazzing it up a little bit in the Kids Tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 8, 2022 from 3:40-4:25 PM. In additional to fan favorites such as Today Is Monday in Louisiana, Feliciana LaRoux and Wiggle Worms, we are adding two jazz tunes to the set list, a family-friendly Bourbon Street Parade and my own Who Got the Baby in the King Cake?
During the pandemic, Scott and I decided to stretch our musical muscles and learn some traditional jazz standards on the ukulele and chromatic harmonica. What we came up with is a set of original and traditional jazz tunes for grown-ups, just for the fun of it. Little did we know, we could use those new brain wrinkles to jazz up our children’s concert at Jazz Fest this week, and our grown-up concert at the Porretta Soul Festival in Porretta Terme, Italy this July.
So we hope you parade on over to the Kids Tent this Sunday for some Louisiana roots music for families!
