“The impact of music is immeasurable on the cultures around us and the implications endless. I want to tell stories listeners can better understand each other and make peace with the people around them and the lives they live.  Whether the winos or the wealthy, the scandalous or the pious, the young or the old, the lost or the found, we all deserve a measure of redemption, and a good song can offer that grace.”

Jerry Giddens: Sad Songs at Sunset

New Orleans-based singer/songwriter Jerry Giddens has released his new 4-tracks EP album “Sad Songs at Sunset, Chapter 1” (2026). The new songs are out now on your favorite streaming service. This is his first album since 2010’s “Damn It Abby”. The songs on the record were recorded at the end of 2025 at Marigny Studios in New Orleans with The Iguanas, John Fohl, Gal Holiday, Stumps Duh Clown, and Tom Marron. The four songs on the album each tell their own story. “Meet Me at The St. Roch Tavern” was written about the artist’s yearlong weekly residence at the Tavern in New Orleans. "The Waltz of the Clowns" is a reference to the clowns who lived in Rosalie Alley (one of whom, Stumps Duh Clown, performs on the album). The song and the alley are neighborhood favorites in Bywater. “The Beauty of Shadows” was born when the poet saw an old gothic bridge in Pittsburgh, PA. The bridge ran across the street from the courthouse to the jail.  The songwriter imagined the souls that had crossed on “The Bridge of Signs,” the path to the jail and the despair.

(Photo: Jerry Giddens)

And wrote of a husband calling out to his wife, a boy longing for his home in California, and a lonely man who had committed a murder for which he would never be forgiven. "Wait" was written in the 1990s with alumni of Giddens’ first band Walking Wounded in L.A. Says Giddens, “it still rings true for me now and our con-man president appears long before his presidencies and the despair his game brings.” Giddens is also developing “Sad Songs at Sunset” into a stage play about an ancient songwriter and the stories he's told of Murder, Mayhem, and the End of Times.

Interview by Michael Limnios             Special Thanks: Keith James (Glass Onyon PR)

How has the music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

Music has been an intricate part of my understanding of the world and the paths I’ve taken. Beginning with gospel music and the faith it embodied, the folk music of the 1960s and the political action it spawned, and then my songwriting, with the agency it provided that served for both the spiritual and the political. Simply, the music filled my very being.

How do you describe your sound, music philosophy and songbook? What keeps a musician passionate over the years? 

My sound has always carried the folk tradition, primarily, but the urgency of rock and roll would propel the early song writing. My philosophy asked that I carry compassion with my music, and I wear black for the children of the world and the chaos of greed and hatred they endure. That inner commitment has kept me passionate, though at times uncertain.

How do you approach the process of songwriting, and are there any specific themes or emotions you tend to explore in your music?

My songwriting process is anchored in storytelling and the themes as varied as the humans who inhabit the tales. “Murder and Mayhem” are there, but also perseverance and struggle, poker games and saloons, demons and angels, clowns and provocateurs, darkness and light, dancing and distance, love and hate, and damnation and redemption.

“Listen! Learn! Laugh and Cry! Don’t take yourself tooseriously. Remember words can sting. Those around you deserve your kindness and attention. All are lessons I’m still working on.” (Photo: Jerry Giddens, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter)

What moment changed your music life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

I guess my move to Hollywood in July of 1977 encompassed the moment that changed my life in music. There I met Larry Taylor, the Mole from Canned Heat, Dave Alvin from the Blasters, John Doe from X, and Dwight Yoakum. I befriended an unknown to most outside of L.A., but the infamous Francis X. When I first arrived in Hollywood, I sat around in R. Dean Taylor’ studio. R. Dean was a co-writer of “Love Child” recorded by The Supremes and had a big hit himself with “Indiana Wants Me.” In his studio I sang with The Shirelles (They had multiple hits including “Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow,”“Baby It’s You,” and “Dedicated to the One I Love”). I met a crazy country singer, Bill Allen, the man who knew every bar in Hollywood, and my companion in one of those barswhere we heard Elvis had died.

On the road, I played with Los Lobos, met Taj Mahal, and sat down with John Trudell from The Graffiti band with Jesse Ed Davis. John cornered me after a Walking Wounded set, and sat me down to tell him the lyrics of my song, “Prince of Thieves,” the story of Francis X. I played Chautauqua in Boulder and opened for Shawn Colvin.

Walking Wounded opened for The Minute Men” in Long Beach in the 80s, recorded with Ethan James of Radio Tokyo and Dusty Wakeman from Mad Dog Studios. I sang for Clive Davis in his office, and hounded every A and R guy, in every label, in town. I hosted the legendary and now passed, David Rogriguez at KCRW in L.A. David wrote “Ballad of the Snow Leopard” recorded by Lyle Lovett. I consider David Rodriguez to be Bob Dylan’s only peer, and Walking Wounded recorded David’s song, “Your Daughters and Your Sons.” Being in Hollywood was like being in the center of the universe, and I loved it.

But the highlights of that time, and the times that followed, were the great musicians I was fortunate to work with. In order of appearance in the band: Mike Nichols, Moose Chavez, Mike Packard, Tom Lillestol, Billy Mintz, Chalo Quintana, Tony Marsico, Eddie Munoz, Roger Prescott, Bobby Robles, Luis Ruiz, Henry Rodriguez, Kent Housman, David Raven, Chris Lawrence, Dylan Jones, Chris Dearner, Bill Lewis, Freddie Staehle, and all the folks that I join, even now, in New Orleans.

And more than a highlight, there in Hollywood, California, my two sons were born and raised with short stays in the California mountains outside L.A. and Austin.

“My philosophy asked that I carry compassion with my music, and I wear black for the children of the world and the chaos of greed and hatred they endure. That inner commitment has kept me passionate, though at times uncertain.” (Jerry Giddens / Photo by Reggie Ige)

Why do you think that New Orleans music legacy continues to generate such a devoted following?

Years ago, I had a brief conversation with Robert Gordon, the Memphis writer and publisher, regarding New Orleans and its primacy over Memphis as the birthplace of American Music. Though his argument was more than valid, yes, the blues was born in the Delta south of Memphis, but it came of age in New Orleans where many of those blues’ greats migrated. The city birthed Jazz, R&B, and Soul after the music from Africa and the Caribbean was played in Congo Square. People all over the world have visited, “The City That Care Forgot,” and those folks carry the legacy of this place to every corner of the earth

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I miss the songwriters that have gone on: Jimmy Rogers, Hank Williams, Leadbelly, Sam Cooke, Bob Marley, John Prine, and David Rodriquez. And I pray that Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchel, Joan Baez, and Irma Thomas live forever. My hope is peace. My fear is War. Long Live Bob Dylan!

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

The impact of music is immeasurable on the cultures around us and the implications endless. I want to tell stories listeners can better understand each other and make peace with the people around them and the lives they live. Whether the winos or the wealthy, the scandalous or the pious, the young or the old, the lost or the found, we all deserve a measure of redemption, and a good song can offer that grace.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Listen! Learn! Laugh and Cry! Don’t take yourself tooseriously. Remember words can sting. Those around you deserve your kindness and attention. All are lessons I’m still working on.

Jerry Giddens - Home

(Photo: Jerry Giddens)