Today in Louisiana Music History

Happy birthday to ground-breaking bassist George "Pops" Foster was born in McCall in 1892. Foster played with them all and out lived most, so when his auto-biography came out in the late sixties, it de-bunked some myths and created new legends. He was in the Magnolia Orchestra, the Eagle Band and on the riverboat with Fate Marable. He worked with King Oliver, Louis Keppard, Kid Ory and Louis Armstrong before he left the city. He was a mainstay in Armstrong's big bands in the thirties. His playing was strong and adaptable and he was able to work late into his life. He had a brother Willie, who played banjo and guitar. Foster passed in 1969 in San Francisco. He was 77.

Happy birthday to blues harmonica player and zydeco accordionist Bruce Sunpie Barnes. Sunpie learned the harmonica from his father as a child. After a brief stint in professional football Barnes settled down to a life of music along with a paying gig of National Park Ranger. He began picking up gigs in New Orleans around the late eighties and put together his own group the Louisiana Sunspots in 91. Barnes has released a number of CDs and performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and across Louisiana. Over time he has spread out to other instruments and began to write songs. Sunpie is very active in many organizations in the Crescent city and is surely an asset to our community.