Heartbreak And Cocaine

Andre Lovett and his bandmates have a sound that’s not easily pinned down.

- Bill Forman

Any musician who plays in crowded New Orleans bars gets used to people coming up to them between sets and saying how much they sound like their favorite artist. Just ask New Orleans’ folk/soul/hip-hop musician Andre Lovett, whose band plays out five nights a week at the Bourbon Street Drinkery, the Apple Barrel, and the upscale Pontchartrain Hotel. “I get so many people telling me how much I remind them of different artists, that it’s hard to pick just one,” he says. “The ones I get most are Charles Bradley and Tracy Chapman.”

Traces of both artists are discernible on Andre Lovett and his band Luscious Duchess’ soulful debut album Heartbreak and Cocaine, which is currently being mixed and mastered for release this coming January. But Lovett and his bandmates (Nat Lawrence on keys; Fernando Lima on drums; Matt Gibson on bass and Whitney Alouisouis on vocals) have a sound that’s not easily pinned down—thus the variety of comparisons, which can sometimes come out of nowhere.

“I got James Brown once, and I’m like, ‘Okayyyy,” laughs the musician. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always take a compliment. But I think it was just because I’m a black guy in a suit.”

It’s no secret that many of the best R&B, blues, and pop artists grew up singing gospel music in church. Lovett did, too, just not in the kind you’re thinking of.