John Boutté

Every now and then, if you’re really lucky, you’ll hear a voice that stops you in your tracks. Everything else falls away. Your mind empties as all thoughts and worries cease. Listening to John Boutté is just like that.

Boutté started singing in a capella groups on the streets of New Orleans when he was little more than a child. From the choirs emerging out of the church behind his house in the city’s 7^th  Ward, to the wild energy of Carnival season bands and the transcendent joy of a jazz funeral, the sounds and textures of Boutté’s hometown found their way into his music from the very beginning.

It was an intoxicating gumbo that got richer as it blended with the Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5 and Roberta Flack songs that he heard playing from his older brothers and sisters’ turntables. 

For Boutté, everything finally coalesced when, thousands of miles away from home during a military stint in Korea, he found his voice singing in local bars. Three albums and countless performances around the world later, that voice has become one of the enduring treasures of our time. John Boutte’s performance at Jericho Beach this summer will surely be one of the highlights of the Festival.  

– DH