The Iguanas

Overview

The word “Americana” gets tossed around rather loosely these days; it can mean anything from a hipster with a recently-discovered acoustic guitar to a decades-long denizen of the Grand Ole Opry. But when you set aside the Johnny-come-rootly types from the real deal, it’s a sure bet that you’re going to stray into Iguana territory. Based out of New Orleans for the past couple of decades – save for a short, Katrina-imposed exile in Austin – the Iguanas define a sound of Americana that crosses cultures, styles, eras... and even languages.  Collectively or individually the members of the Iguanas have played or recorded with everyone from Charlie Rich, Alex Chilton, and Willy DeVille to Emmylou Harris, Allen Toussaint and Pretty Lights. Their latest album, Juarez, is their first studio recording since 2012’s Sin to Sin.  The Iguanas’ two-decade road has taken them all over the map. While bassist René Coman is the only member of the band who is a native of the Crescent City, a languid swampiness deeply suffuses their sound. But there’s far more depth to it than the New Orleans patina that rests, sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily, on anything the city touches. It’s almost as if the Iguanas dragged sand up from Juarez and mud from the Mississippi Delta, threw them both into the white-hot crucible of rock, and built their foundation from there, with drummer Doug Garrison anchoring their sound deep in the groove.