"Big Chief" Monk Boudreaux (born Joseph Pierre Boudreaux; December 7, 1941) is an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

musician and Big Chief of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. He is widely known for his long-time collaboration with Big Chief Bo Dollis in

The Wild Magnolias The Wild Magnolias are a Mardi Gras Indian tribe who also record and play as a funk musical act from New Orleans, Louisiana. History Origins A group calling itself the Wild Magnolias, participating in the local " Indian masking" traditions a ...

Biography

In the late 1960s, Boudreaux joined the Wild Magnolias, the Mardi Gras Indian group led by his Big Chief Bo Dollis. Dollis and Boudreaux have been close friends since their childhood. In 1970, Boudreaux appeared with

the Wild Magnolias The Wild Magnolias are a Mardi Gras Indian tribe who also record and play as a funk musical act from New Orleans, Louisiana. History Origins A group calling itself the Wild Magnolias, participating in the local " Indian masking" traditions a ...

at the first

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

, and also in the same year, the group released the single "Handa Wanda" on Crescent City Records, the first studio recorded music by the Mardi Gras Indians. In 1974, he appeared with the Wild Magnolias on their debut album on Barclay/Polydor Records which featured

Snooks Eaglin Fird Eaglin Jr. (January 21, 1936 or 1937 – February 18, 2009), known as Snooks Eaglin, was an American guitarist and singer based in New Orleans. In his early years he was sometimes credited under other names, including Blind Snooks Eaglin, ...

and

Willie Tee Wilson Turbinton (February 6, 1944 – September 11, 2007), professionally known as Willie Tee, was an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, producer and notable early architect of New Orleans funk and soul, who helped shape the sound of New ...

in the supporting musicians. Boudreaux is exclusively featured on Golden Eagles' album ''Lightning and Thunder'', a live recording released in 1988 on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

. After being with the Wild Magnolias for over 30 years, Boudreaux left the group in 2001 as a result of disputes with the group's manager over guarantee payments. Since then he has performed and recorded with artists such as

Anders Osborne Anders Osborne (born May 4, 1966, in Uddevalla, Sweden) is an American singer-songwriter. He tours solo and with a band, and often plays in North Mississippi Osborne (N.M.O), a group formed by Osborne and North Mississippi Allstars. Early lif ...

Galactic Galactic is an American funk band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Origins and background Formed in 1994 as an octet (under the name Galactic Prophylactic) and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a ...

and Papa Mali aside from the Golden Eagles. Boudreaux with the Golden Eagles appears in performance footage in the 2005 documentary film '' Make It Funky!'', which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. They perform the Mardi Gras Indian standard "Sew, Sew, Sew". In the recent years, he has also participated in the recording and tour of the Voice of the Wetlands All-stars, a band that also featured

Tab Benoit Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967) is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a stock 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own ...

Cyril Neville Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans–based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the Neville Brothers band u ...

, and

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. Active as a session mus ...

among others. He is also featured on one track in the New Orleans Social Club's album ''Sing Me Back Home'' released in 2006. He currently performs regularly in New Orleans with John Lisi & Delta Funk, with whom he has also recorded.

Personal life

Boudreaux's son, Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., is also a musician and was nominated in 2023 for the

Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 as the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the regionally based traditional Ameri ...

. Monk was nominated for the same category in 2021.

Legacy

In 2010, Boudreaux appeared in the feature-length documentary ''Bury the Hatchet'' directed by Aaron Walker. The film is an intimate look at the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, following Boudreaux and several other Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs in the year before

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, through the storm and the years after. The documentary won best Louisiana feature at the

New Orleans Film festival The New Orleans Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the nonprofit organization New Orleans Film Society, a film society founded in 1989. The festival has been held since the society's inception. The festival takes place in mid-O ...

and a work-in-progress edit of the film won the Grand Prize and Intangible Culture Award at the Royal Anthropological Institute Festival of Ethnographic Film in Leeds, England.

Awards and honors

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

He was a recipient of a 2016

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

''OffBeat'''s Best of The Beat Awards

Discography

Solo

*1988 ''The Golden Eagles/Lightning & Thunder'' (Rounder) *2002 ''Bury the Hatchet'' (Shanachie) with

*2003 ''Mr. Stranger Man'' (Shanachie) *2009 ''Rising Sun'' (featuring Reverend Goat Carson) (f. Boo Music) *2011 ''Won't Bow Down'' (f. Boo Music) *2021 ''Bloodstains & Teardrops'' (Whiskey Bayou Records)

With the Wild Magnolias

*1974 ''The Wild Magnolias'' (Barclay) *1975 ''They Call Us Wild'' (Barclay) *1990 ''I'm Back… at Carnival Time'' (Rounder) *1996 ''1313 Hoodoo Street'' (AIM) *1999 ''Life Is a Carnival'' (Metro Blue) *2002 ''30 Years .. And Still WILD!'' (spacing, punctuation, type case sic) (AIM)

Other

*1992 ''The Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday Showdown'' (Rounder) *2005 ''Voice of the Wetlands'' (Rykodisc) *2005 "Golden Crown" (vocals and wrote song) appeared on Tab Benoit's album ''Fever On The Bayou'' (Telarc) *2006 ''The New Orleans Social Club/Sing Me Back Home'' (Burgundy) *2007 '' Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino'' (

Vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. ...

) *2012 ''Rough Guide to the Music of New Orleans'' (World Music Network)

References

External links

* *
Home Of The Groove: Mardi Gras Indians

Voice of the Wetlands official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudreaux, Monk 1941 births Living people American male singers Singers from Louisiana National Heritage Fellowship winners Rounder Records artists Shanachie Records artists Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans